La Femme Publique plot
Ethel, an aspiring and promising young actress, accepts the lead role in a film version of Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed" directed by Lucas Kesling. Dissatisfied with her acting, the eccentric and dictatorial filmmaker embarks on a rigorous course in indoctrination, sexual domination and acting classes that leaves the mentally exhausted girl unable to distinguish between the real world and that of the movie. When she is at her weakest, Lucas Ethel casts the role of the deceased wife of the emotionally and mentally unstable Milan Mliska. The latter is manipulated by Lucas and incited to murder a cardinal from Lithuania.