The story on which Luis Bu-uel based his film That Obscure Object of Desire was earlier treated by Sternberg. The Devil Is a Woman is set against a backdrop of 19th century Spanish revolution, which pales in the face of the upheaval Marlene Dietrich causes in the lives of the men who come to ruin for her elusive love. "The Devil Is a Woman is the ne plus ultra of Sternberg's art, a synthetic creation of unique and transcendent beauty. It hardly matters that the script reduces Pierre Louys' classic of sado-masochism to the most trivial level. Compared to Dietrich the men are the 'objects', wooden characters; if it's sexist, it's sexist in a radically different manner than most Hollywood stereotypes. Sternberg demonstrates a complete mastery of mise-en-sc?ne: even the slow dissolves between scenes are inspired moments, dying images reflecting the evanescence of all things." (Treasures from the UCLA Film Archives, PFA publication)