The Public Woman () is a 1984 French erotic drama film inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1872 novel Demons and directed by Andrzej Żuławski, starring Valérie Kaprisky, Lambert Wilson and Francis Huster as the lead actors. The film had a total of 1,302,425 admissions in France where it was the 28th highest-grossing film of the year. Plot summary An inexperienced young actress is invited to play a role in a film based on Dostoevsky's novel Demons. The film director, a Czech immigrant in Paris, takes over her life, and in a short time she is unable to draw the line between acting and reality. She winds up playing a real-life role posing as the dead wife of another Czech immigrant, who is manipulated by the filmmaker into committing a political assassination. Awards César Awards, France, 1985 Nominated Best Actress - Valérie Kaprisky Best Supporting Actor - Lambert Wilson Best Writing - Adaptation - Andrzej Żuławski and Dominique Garnier Montréal World Film Festival 1984 Won Most Popular Film - Andrzej Żuławski Won Special Prize of the Jury - Andrzej Żuławski DVD releases The film had its English-speaking debut on DVD in late 2008, when new label Mondo Vision released the film as its debut title. The disc features a commentary from Andrzej Żuławski and a video interview, where he discusses Polish cinema and the film's production. The film is also available on DVD from LCJ Editions in France, IVC in Japan, and Minerva Pictures in Italy, but lack these extras. References External links Image comparison comparing the quality of different DVD releases Bagatellen.com review DVDTalk Review DVD Times Review 1984 films 1980s erotic drama films French erotic drama films Films about actors Films based on Russian novels Films based on works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Films directed by Andrzej Żuławski 1984 drama films 1980s French-language films 1980s French films