Fetish performer Dita von Teese has been cast to play the role of WWI-era exotic dancer/spy Mata Hari in a new film directed by Martha Fiennes. The full story is here.

Before we get to whether or not Dita can pull this off, a bit of history: the original femme fatale, Mata Hari was born Margaretha Zelle to a humble family that ran a hat shop in Holland. She moved to Java as a newlywed at age 18, but family life was not in the stars for Mata Hari; after a divorce, she resurfaced in Paris, poised to reinvent herself as a sultry dancer princess.

She first performed as a circus horse rider under the name Lady McLeod, but reached true fame when she introduced herself as an exotic dancer under the name Mata Hari (“Eye of the Day” in Indonesian, “Mother of God” in Hindi). An overnight success, she was famous for her seductive performances, elaborate costumes and Oriental origins; she posed as a princess from Java, initiate in the mystical art of erotic ritual dance. After her rise to stardom as a dancer, Mata Hari became a courtesan, then a spy, and ultimately, by some accounts, a double agent.

Margaretha Zelle was not known for being beautiful, but as Mata Hari, she was considered one of the most sought-after courtesans of the day, which led her dealings in espionage. During World War I she traveled freely between borders and her lovers included officers on different sides of the war. In an interview with British intelligence officers, she admitted that she was working as an intelligence agent for the French, but an intercepted German report that spoke of a helpful spy by the code-name of H-21 led the French to identify H-21 as Mata Hari. However, it later came out that this message was delivered in a code that the Germans knew the French had already broken, suggesting that this may have been an attempt by the Germans to take her out of the picture. Regardless, she was arrested in Paris, tried for espionage, and executed by firing squad in 1917. Fashionable until the day she died, Mata Hari insisted on wearing stockings, heels, a long dress, leather gloves and a tricorn hat to her execution.

Though Mata Hari did not escape the authorities, her her head eventually did. Because no one came to bury her, Mata Hari’s body was donated to science. Her head was removed and set up for display at the Museum of Anatomy in Paris. In 2000, the head mysteriously disappeared from the museum’s collection. Museum curators believe that an avid fan of Mata Hari somehow walked off with the head. Perhaps it’s been (re?)-united with the could-be-missing-missing member of Rasputin, who, by the way, was killed within a year of Mata Hari in Russia.

But back to Dita! She’s got a lot to live up to in this role:

• Greta Garbo as Mata Hari in 1931
• Marlene Deitrich in “Dishonored,” a story loosely based on Mata Hari, also in 1931
• Jeanne Moreau as Mata Hari in 1964
• Sylvia Kristel in 1984 version of Mata Hari

So how will she fare, especially with such shoes to fill? Even though she has never acted in full feature film, I think she’ll be great! Although in my fantasy-world Mata Hari would be played by Rachel Brice, Dita and Mata Hari actually have more in common than any other actress I can think of:

1. Both come from humble origins and are completely self-made personalities. Dita von Teese was originally born Heather Sweet to a middle-class working family in Michigan.
2. In the early 1900s, Mata Hari “elevated exotic dance to a more respectable status,” Today, Dita has done the same for fetish modeling and burlesque.
3. Even Dita herself has admitted that her greatest asset isn’t her natural beauty, but her power to craft her own image through clothing and makeup. Mata Hari was much the same way. Like Dita, she knew how to work with what she had.

Of course the above does not mean that Dita will necessarily turn out to be an amazing actress in this role, but I’m rooting for her. If nothing else we know that she can look like a hot spy:

Image by Perou.

Sources and further reading on Mata Hari:

• Mata Hari on Wikipedia
• Mata Hari file at the Crime Library
• Mata Hari was only interested in one thing – and it wasn’t espionage
• Was Mata Hari Framed?
• Mata Hari Image Gallery

Posted by Nadya Lev on November 18th, 2007
Filed under Fetish, Film, War, Ye Olde