Jede Frau hat ein Geheimnis: A light romp with too many outfits

Is it worth the watch?

Honestly, only if you’re in the mood for something that feels like a dusty postcard from a different century. If you dig light, breezy fluff and don't mind a story that leans heavily on the 'Cinderella' trope, you might get a kick out of this. But if you’re the type who gets annoyed by characters making the same obvious mistake for eighty minutes, you will probably want to turn it off before the first perfume bottle even gets uncorked.

The whole premise hinges on our lead, a working-class girl, deciding that the best way to sell some cologne is to pretend she’s royalty at a fancy hotel. It’s absurd, obviously. Watching her scramble to keep up the lie is meant to be funny, but it mostly just feels like a lot of sweating in expensive dresses.

The Baden-Baden Vibe

The hotel setting is nice, I guess. It’s got that specific kind of 1930s polish where everything is shiny and nobody ever looks like they have an actual job to do. There’s a lot of walking around in hallways and looking surprised when someone enters the room. Classic stuff.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Jede Frau hat ein Geheimnis (1934) through its definitive frames.

It’s weirdly similar in spirit to the frantic energy you find in Telefondamen. Both films have this obsession with people trying to be someone they aren't, just to get a foot in the door.

Odd Little Moments

• There’s a scene involving a tray of perfume samples that goes on for a lifetime. Why are they so obsessed with the bottle?
• The extras in the background seem to have been told to 'look rich' by just standing still and occasionally nodding at walls.
• I swear the lighting changes three times in one conversation. Maybe the sun was just indecisive that day.

The pacing is a bit of a disaster, honestly. It’s like the editor just let the film run whenever the actors were having fun, even if it didn't move the story forward. Sometimes the movie stops dead just so someone can make a slightly witty remark that isn't actually that funny.

If you like this sort of thing, you’ve probably already seen it. If not, it’s a perfectly fine way to lose an afternoon, provided you don't think about the logic of the perfume business too hard. Just don't expect a masterpiece. It’s mostly just people in nice coats having a very polite time.