While it has been touted as wildly erotic and controversial for its mature subject matter, don't expect anything racy in Diary of a Lost Girl. It's still a German silent film from 1929, no matter how you look at it. The story is difficult to follow and much of the action is implied, but the images are haunting all by themselves. Louise Brooks is the reason to see the movie, as her porcelain skin and white gowns radiate against the oppressive dark backgrounds. Her short, sleek haircut and black eye makeup are totally glamorous, especially with that flapper-girl slouch and pouting face. She also gives an amazingly nuanced performance, conveying her distress with her worried eyes rather than the usually overdone acting style of the time. Supporting characters are also well done, with Andrews Englemann appropriately hideous as the giant bald bad guy at the reform school. Thymiane (Brooks) is always shown in a sympathetic light as an innocent survivor of a repressive and unfair system. Unwilling to accept her punishment, Thymiane would rather give her inheritance money to her little half-sister than allow her to suffer the same fate that she endured. Even when Thymiane rises up in status, she doesn't forget her roots, choosing to side with her old friend Erika (Edith Meinhard) rather than crusade for righteousness with other so-called respectable women. The 2001 Kino release of the film is beautifully restored with a new score by Joseph Turrin and nine minutes of previously censored footage.