The Ape Woman


The Ape Woman is a 1964 Italian-French drama film directed by Marco Ferreri. It was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. The film was inspired by the real-life story of Julia Pastrana a 19th-century woman exploited as a freak show attraction by her manager Theodore Lent.
In 2008 the film was selected to enter the list of the 100 Italian films to be saved.

Plot

Marie, the "Ape Woman", is completely covered with hair; the entrepreneur Focaccia discovers her in a convent in Naples; he marries her and begins exhibiting her to the public. He tries to sell her to a man who insists on her virginity, but she is a little reluctant. After tasting success in Paris, she dies during childbirth. Focaccia recovers her mummy from the museum of natural history and exhibits it in Naples.

Cast