1916
A woman is thrown out of her home by her jealous husband and sinks into depravity. Twenty years later, she finds herself accused of murder for saving her son, who does not know who she is. He finds himself defending her without knowing her background.
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1929
A woman is thrown out into the street without any money by her jealous husband when he discovers she has been carrying on an affair. She is not even allowed to see their four-year-old son. She sinks into depravity.
Twenty years later, she has become the mistress of a new man. When he finds out that her husband is now the Attorney General, he decides to blackmail him. Desperate to shield her son from her disgrace, she shoots and kills her lover.
By chance, the lawyer assigned to her turns out to be her own son, on his first case. He is puzzled and frustrated when she refuses to defend herself in court. During the trial, her husband shows up in support of his son. When she sees that he recognizes her and is about to speak out, she makes an impassioned plea, not for mercy but for understanding of what drove her to murder. As she had intended, the hidden message silences him. When she faints from the strain, she is carried into a private chamber. There, she kisses her still-unaware son and dies.
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1937
A woman is thrown out of her home by her jealous husband. Twenty years later, she finds herself accused of murder for saving her son, who does not know who she is as he was raised without her. He finds himself defending her without knowing her background.
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1966
A lower class woman marries into a rich family. Her husband’s mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities. Due to her husband’s frequent and long trips abroad, the woman forms a relationship with a well-known playboy. When her lover accidentally dies, and only her mother-in-law knows she is innocent, the latter blackmails her into disappearing into the night during a planned boat trip, leaving her husband and young son thinking she has died.
She then slowly sinks into depravity all over the world, only to be brought back to America under false assumptions by a “friend” who plans on blackmailing her family. When she realizes that the man intends to reveal who she is to her son, she shoots the man to stop him. The police arrest her and refusing to reveal her identity, she signs a confession with the letter “X.” As fate would have it, the court assigns a defense attorney who happens to be her long-lost son.
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1977
On the women’s ship Orlando the flags of attack, leather, weapons, lesbian love and death are raised with a beauty which dispenses with a total domination of the viewer’s gaze. The aesthetic is strictly stylized, exhibiting itself without overwhelming us.
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1981
A woman is thrown out of her home by her jealous husband and sinks into depravity. Twenty years later, she finds herself accused of murder for saving her son, who does not know who she is. He finds himself defending her without knowing her background.
