Mata Hari: The Naked Spy (2017) Movie Script
(gentle pensive music)
[Mata Hari] I have
danced in Paris, Madrid,
Monte Carlo, Berlin, and Vienna.
I have performed for barons,
ambassadors, and princes.
(gentle upbeat music)
From the moment I introduced
my Javanese dances,
my fate was sealed.
With every veil I threw
off, my success rose.
Pretending to consider
my dances very artistic,
thus praising my art,
they came to see nudity.
I chose an Indian name. I became
Mata Hari, Eye of the Day.
I received the protection
of the richest men,
and I did not lack the
skill to profit from that.
Realize that I have lived all
my adult life as Mata Hari,
that I think and act as her.
(gentle ominous music)
I am a woman of the world,
but I'm not a traitor.
I beg you to believe me.
I never committed a
single act of espionage
against France, never.
(dramatic music)
(gentle pensive music)
(gentle pensive music continues)
[Mata Hari] I was born
Margaretha Zelle, August 7th, 1876.
We lived in Leeuwarden, a small
country town in Friesland,
which is in the northern
part of the Netherlands.
My father's grandest moment
was being selected to be in
the Mounted Guard of Honor
when King Willem III visited Leeuwarden.
Margaretha's father was a boastful man.
He liked to show off that he did well
and sometimes people called
him mockingly, The Baron.
[Catherine] He was not a
baron. He was just a hat maker.
He owned a store in the
central street of Leeuwarden.
And he wanted to have more.
His daughter, Margaretha,
was the apple of his eye.
He just loved this girl.
Margaretha heard her father
invent things about his family,
his ancestors, his real life.
So she learned that a pleasant lie
is more rewarding than plain truth.
Margaretha was a spoiled child.
Her father gave her lavish gifts,
including a small carriage drawn by goats.
(gentle piano music)
She was the most pretty
girl in Leeuwarden.
She went to the best private school
that her father could find.
She learned what she
would use all her life.
Languages, she learned
German, French and English.
She would learn to ride,
she just loved horses.
This is an enchanted childhood
up to her 13th birthday,
when suddenly things
became from bad to worse.
[Shauna] When Mata Hari was 13,
her father came upon hard times.
[Marijke] He went bankrupt.
That was very shameful.
And subsequently the
father left the family.
[Catherine] She had to quit school.
School was very expensive.
[Marijke] A year later,
Margaretha's mother
died of tuberculosis.
(piano music)
[Catherine] On the day
of her mother's death,
she would play piano all day long.
And that was shocking for the neighbors
because when you are in
mourning, you don't play music.
(gentle somber music)
She went to live with her
godfather, Mr. Visser.
He did not know what to
do with this teenager.
So he decided to send her to school
to become a school teacher
for small children.
[Gerk] When Margaretha was
studying to be a teacher,
she had this affair.
[Marijke] There were
allegations that she was found
on the lap of Director Haanstra.
So that something was, yeah, going on.
[Catherine] The headmaster
fell madly in love with
this young girl.
The scandal was huge.
[Marijke] This affair
didn't affect Mr. Haanstra.
There were no consequences for him.
She was tainted by this
affair, she had to leave.
She went to live with her
uncle and aunt in The Hague.
[Catherine] So she spent her days
reading the classified advertisements
in the local newspaper.
Suddenly she came on
something very interesting.
[Mata Hari] "Officer on home
leave from Dutch East Indies
would like to meet a girl
of pleasant character.
Object, matrimony."
[Catherine] So she answered this ad.
She had the wonderful idea
to send a photo of her,
and on this photograph, she's
absolutely breathtaking.
So he answered Margaretha.
They decided to meet in Amsterdam
in front of the Rijksmuseum.
Six days later they were engaged.
(gentle music)
[Catherine] Rudolf
MacLeod was 39 at the time.
He was an officer. He was
not in very good health.
He has diabetes and he was alcoholic
and he was very bad tempered.
The only good thing we can say about him,
he still had some allure
when he was in a uniform.
So this was a great chance for her
to become a decent, married woman.
[Catherine] We have incredible
letters from Margaretha
to Rudolf MacLeod.
So audacious for the time.
Giving intimate details
on their sexual life.
[Mata Hari] You ask me
if I'm longing to do crazy things.
Rather 10 times than only one.
I do not believe, either,
that all these pleasures can ever end.
[Catherine] She loved to make love
and he enjoyed her very much.
[Mata Hari] Rudolf and I
were married July 11th, 1895,
in a civil ceremony, at
the city hall in Amsterdam.
I was 19. He was 39.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] Their life
changed drastically.
They had no money because Rudolf's pension
was not very high.
[Mata Hari] I had not
married to go without luxury,
and I was flirtatious
and he did not like that.
I had inclinations that made it impossible
for a woman like me to
be a good housewife.
I was not content at home.
I confess frankly, I wanted to live
like a colorful butterfly in the sun.
(gentle dramatic music)
(gentle cheerful music)
On January 30th, 1897,
our son Norman was born.
Three months later, we
boarded the Prinses Amalia
bound for the Dutch East Indies.
I was so glad to leave
Amsterdam for a new life.
When they finally got to Java,
it was a total disappointment
for Margaretha.
The first assignment was
in the center of Java,
and there was nothing there
except insects and heat.
She had this baby, of course,
and very quickly she was pregnant again.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Mata Hari] On May 2nd, 1898,
our daughter Jeanne Louise was born.
We always called our daughter Non,
which is Malaysian for young girl.
Non was a beautiful child, with
my dark hair and dark eyes.
(gentle pensive music)
[Catherine] Margaretha was really happy.
She had her two babies, of course,
but she was discharged of
all duties of a mother.
For the first time, she felt free,
and she became very interested
in the culture of Java.
She used to wear a sari, and
she was learning how to dance.
She learns even a few words of Malaysian.
And nearly every night
there was a ball or a party
and she was dancing with officers.
(gentle poignant music)
[Shauna] Rudolf wanted
her to be beautiful
and quiet and servile.
She was beautiful, but she
was definitely not quiet
and not servile,
and she did not enact the wifely role.
When it became obvious
that he couldn't conquer her
or own her, he grew
increasingly physically
and emotionally violent.
[Mata Hari] Rudolf is intolerable.
Meanwhile, the young
lieutenants pursue me,
and are in love with me.
It's difficult for me to behave in a way
which will give my husband
no cause for reproach.
(gentle music)
Suddenly, this terrible
thing happened, this tragedy.
[Mata Hari] Norman and
Non became violently ill,
vomiting a terrible black liquid.
Over the course of a week,
their condition worsened.
Rudolf stayed by Norman's bedside.
(gentle wistful music)
Slowly, little Norman's life ebbed away.
Non miraculously survived.
Rudolf was heartbroken.
You can only be moved by his grief.
And of course Margaretha
was devastated too.
[Mata Hari] My lovely
little Norman has died,
and I'm not in a state
to write much about it.
The passing of my dear Norman
has taken everything out of me.
Norman died, and it's not clear
what is the cause of this death.
There were rumors that Rudolf,
who was not very faithful,
gave syphilis to Margaretha
and the children,
so they had to be treated, and
the cure was very aggressive.
That could also be a cause
for the death of this little boy Norman.
(gentle poignant music)
It's a bundle of letters
written in the years 1902, 1903, 1904.
And in these letters, this
is the real Margaretha Zelle.
It gave so much insight
in the person she was
before she was famous.
[Marijke] In one of
Margaretha's letters,
she discloses that she had syphilis
and that the whole family
was treated for that.
She wants that to remain a secret
because that of course was very shameful.
She cares especially
about her daughter Non,
because if people would know
that she had had syphilis
and was treated for that,
she would become unmarriable.
[Mata Hari] Dearest cousin Edward.
I would like to tell you something
that I do not wish to be
for cousin Anna's ears.
When you have a moment alone with Rudolf,
just ask him the reason why his child
spent three months at the
hospital, and had to undergo
a topical treatment of
mercury and blue ointment.
[Gerk] She explained that
she had been treated with mercury.
Both children had been forced
to undergo this treatment.
And here is an indication that Norman
was killed by the mercury treatment.
It was a very secret thing to deal with.
Life became unbearable in this family.
It was not a family anymore.
It was just a grieving couple.
They could not help each other.
They destroyed each other.
(dramatic music)
(Rudolph shouts)
(plate shutters)
[Mata Hari] I am alone
here, in a foreign country,
without family and without anything.
And I can't fight against
such a brutal man.
He hits me, spits on me,
and says the worst
things to me in his rage.
I don't want to be
treated like this anymore.
But I have no money.
Margaretha wanted to go back.
She endlessly asked and begged
to go back to the Netherlands,
and finally he gave in.
(upbeat cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] At last, we are
going back to the Netherlands.
But Rudolf owes so much money.
Upon our return, Rudolf's
creditors hounded him.
He continued to drink, beat me,
and refused to give me any money.
Non fell ill, Rudolf was terrified
this might be a repeat
of Norman's illness.
The next day, Rudolf took
Non to the post office
and never returned.
(gentle somber music)
I filed for divorce.
I asked for custody of Non,
and a monthly allowance of 100 guilders.
Three days later, the court
granted all of my requests
and I had a legal separation.
But Rudolf would not agree to the terms.
Margaretha Zelle was at a pivotal point.
She very much wanted her daughter with her
but she still needed
Rudolf to provide for them.
And Rudolf refused to do so.
[Mata Hari] If Non were living with me,
I would be unable to work.
Every moment of feeling her absence
makes me hate that man the more.
I have been trying all manner of avenues,
but I've been unable to find a decent job.
I am tired of struggling against life,
and I want one of two things.
Either to have Noni with
me and be a proper mother,
or to go to Paris and leave
respectability behind.
I am well-aware that such
a life ends with mishap.
It's a cry from the heart here.
And after such a long time struggling
and looking for a proper life,
she's coming to an end with it.
(gentle apprehensive music)
[Mata Hari] Whatever
I do, I'm besmirched.
I still don't have Non, and I
no longer care about the rest.
I am poverty-stricken.
Auntie said to me, "There's no way out
other than going back to your husband.
You're his wife after all.
He has to support you."
I said, "Auntie, I'm terrified of him.
I'd sooner throw myself under a tram."
(door slams)
I had an acquaintance.
A high-ranking gentleman and
his wife from the East Indies
who said, "You mustn't
return to your husband,
as I am sure he'll mutilate you.
And we cannot have that
on our conscience."
And that gentleman gave
me money for Paris.
[Gerk] And that's where the
story of Mata Hari begins.
(dramatic music)
(gentle lilting music)
In 1904 when Mata Hari came to Paris,
Paris was at its zenith
of glamor and beauty.
It was the City of Light,
a place where everyone wanted to be.
It was a time of change.
It was a time of ferment
on just about every front
that you could think of.
You had Matisse, Picasso.
You had Ravel and Debussy composing music
that just put the traditionalists on edge.
In fashion, Paul Poiret, Fortuny,
draping women rather than
stifling them in clothes.
This was a great time for fashion.
The women were very glamorous
but it was still becoming more free.
(gentle lilting music continues)
[Mary] There was a huge
sense of upheaval going on
as Mata Hari was arriving in town.
(upbeat triumphant music)
She was gorgeous and stubborn,
and she decided to go to
Paris but in her terms.
If you look rich and well-off,
well, everyone will believe it.
She decided to settle in the Grand Hotel,
one of the most famous
palais at the time.
And she did a spectacular
entrance with her majestic walk.
And all the men in the Grand
Hotel looked at her and said,
"Who is this creature?"
(gentle upbeat music)
She was settled as a femme de la nuit,
which is not exactly a prostitute.
Women like Mata Hari were independent,
forging their own careers,
but they were also in search of rich guys
who would foot some bills
and help them along.
And certainly Mata Hari
found one after another
of those men.
[Catherine] She had the
basis, the Grand Hotel,
and she had some money.
(lively playful music)
Ernst Mollier hired Mata Hari
to be a part of the circus.
[Catherine] Her first job
was in the Cirque Molier
as a professional horse woman.
She performed in the Cirque Molier,
this aristocratic, private circus.
And there, she was able
to meet other people
of the highest social level in Paris.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] Finally she decided
to become an exotic dancer.
[Aurelie] Mata Hari discovered
the dance in Indonesia,
in Java, and she tried to
recreate a kind of Indian dance
mixed with European elements.
The salons were an essential
and very important part
of Paris' cultural life.
There would be music,
there would be singing.
There would be sometimes dancing.
And this is how Mata Hari
found her entree into society.
[Mata Hari] At the
salon of Madame Kireevksy,
I caught the eye of Emil Guimet,
who had recently opened
his Museum of Oriental Art,
the Musee Guimet.
[Aurelie] Emil Guimet knew perfectly
Mata Hari wasn't a true dancer.
The things he want with
her is to create the buzz.
(lively cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] Emil Guimet invited
600 of Paris' elite society
to attend my premiere
performance at the Musee Guimet.
It was a coveted invitation,
as everyone was eager
to see for themselves
if the rumors about me were true.
Emile Guimet selected the audience.
We had writers, artists,
and some people very important
for the nightlife in Paris
that can speak about the events.
March 13, 1905,
that was the most important
evening of her life.
(gentle ethereal music)
(gentle mysterious music)
[Aurelie] Mata Hari appears as a shadow.
So it was a kind of apparition.
It was quite a scandal to
have these very mixed things,
Shiva, Guimet, Asia, a beautiful woman.
It was a kind of atmosphere,
very non-conventional
for the time.
(gentle sultry music)
She made three dances
and she removed in each
dance, a part of her costume.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari's costume was very exotic.
She had an exotic
headdress, lots of jewelry,
a metal bra, lots of veils and scarves.
(music crescendos with
rapid beating of tablas)
In the shadow of the library,
the audience thought
that she finished nude.
But it's not true. She had
a very transparent veil.
We know that because we have the pictures.
But all the people
thought that she was nude.
All of the newspapers made the headlines
on the nudity of Mata Hari.
It was a scandal.
In one night, Paris was at her feet.
At her bare feet.
(gentle spirited music)
[Mary] By presenting
herself as an art form,
Mata Hari raised herself above
the level of the entertainer,
the strip tease, the circus.
And it became something very, very classy.
Historically, Paris
has always been a place
that has loved
entertainment, women, glamor.
She became headline news overnight.
Everyone knew her name by morning.
[Aurelie] And Emile
Guimet was very happy
because everybody spoke
about the Musee Guimet.
And for Mata Hari, it
was also very successful
because everybody wanted to
receive Mata Hari the dancer.
(gentle upbeat music)
Beginning with her performance
at the Guimet Museum in Paris,
which won her enormous publicity
and favor with aristocratic circles,
she was able to do a dance
that was a kind of strip tease
and a kind of erotic,
sexually charged dance.
She was able to do this
without having any of the
overtones of vulgarity
because she was able to
present it as a religious rite.
(gentle upbeat music continues)
Her dancing became very
much, almost like educational.
And so she could take off all her clothes,
and the gentlemen could enjoy that
while the women could just say,
"Oh, well, she's teaching us something
about the Far East that's
very, very important."
[Mata Hari] My dance is a sacred poem
in which each movement is a word.
And whose every move
is underlined by music.
(gentle serene music)
The temple in which I dance can be vague
or faithfully reproduced,
for I am the temple.
One must always translate the three stages
which correspond to the divine attributes
of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Creation through incarnation.
(gentle sultry music)
Mata Hari had to have had
a dynamic stage presence
in order to achieve the
kind of success she did.
There's definitely something to be said
for the presence that you command
and the authenticity of what you're doing,
believing in what you're
doing, even if it's made up.
Continuing to perform in
salons and in elite gatherings,
not just on a stage, continued
to give her a certain cachet.
(lively cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] The
impresario, Gabriel Astruc,
the top agent in Europe,
became my manager.
He booked me into the Olympia Theater.
[Charles] It was at the Olympia
on the Boulevard des Capucines,
and it drew the best
performers and the well-to-do.
[Mata Hari] This was the
beginning of my greatest success.
For the first time, large
audiences could come to see me.
(audience applauding)
And they were eager to do so.
I performed "Le Reve" and
earned the astounding sum
of 10,000 francs.
(gentle music)
My reviews were glowing,
full of lavish praise.
Mata Hari was a sensation in Paris,
but very quickly her fame spread around.
(gentle poignant music)
[Mata Hari] I became
a sought-after star.
I traveled to Madrid where
I entranced my audiences.
(audience applauding)
I danced two weeks with
full houses every night.
(lively upbeat music)
In Monte Carlo, I was given the lead role
in Massenet's much-loved
opera, "Le Roi de Lahore."
This earned me the
artistic respect I coveted.
She went to dance in Monaco
and Massenet was crazy about
Mata Hari, he called her Mata.
He wrote a letter to her when
she was living in Berlin,
and on the envelope the address
was only Mata Hari, Berlin.
She received the letter.
(light playful music)
[Mata Hari] I performed
in Berlin and Vienna.
With my fluent German, I
captured the imagination
and adulation of my audiences.
(audience applauding)
In 1905, I gave over 30 performances
in Paris theaters and salons.
(light playful music continues)
I was the highest paid dancer in Europe.
"Musica" declared me a star of dance.
I thank God I took that train to Paris.
(gentle music)
[Dita] Mata Hari
capitalized on the exoticism
and who her onstage persona was.
One time, she was a
temple dancer's child.
Another time she descended
from Indian royalty.
You name it, she thought
of it, and she told it.
I have to say, she was a
master at getting publicity.
[Yves] What Mata Hari really understood
was the importance of creating
a persona around herself
using the media.
(gentle music continues)
She created her own fantasy world
and convinced her audience
that this world was real.
And it's just so telling
that we're discussing Mata Hari
and we're not discussing Margaretha Zelle.
(gentle mysterious music)
Mata Hari, that's who we wanna talk about.
And Mata Hari is built on
those stories that she told.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari was a real socialite.
She had private performances
at her house in Neuilly,
for which she invited the rich and famous.
She was photographed at the race track.
And also she made appearances
in fashion magazines.
So she did everything to stay
at the center of attention.
(gentle spirited music)
She was always fantasizing
about getting her daughter
back, but she became
a self-created, self-made
woman in Paris with a new life.
She had a sophisticated,
intelligent air about her
that impressed the people she met.
The predominant
characteristic of Mata Hari
was that here was a
woman of great charisma.
[Charles] There was a
charm there, in her being,
in her manner that
invited men to take her in
as their companion, mistress, courtesan.
For example, Gaston Menier,
who was the King of Chocolate in France.
[Mata Hari] Menier praised
the lines of my beautiful body
and called me an Oriental dream.
(lively upbeat music)
[Dita] Mata Hari was one of those women
that was taken care of.
Historically, show
girls were famously kept
and they weren't really even hiding it.
You had patrons that took care of you,
paid for your clothes,
paid for where you live.
Paris is one of those
cities that has always
and will always accept
women like Mata Hari.
(gentle uplifting music)
How did Mata Hari enter
into the life of a courtesan?
I think she entered on
it very enthusiastically,
(chuckling) as I understand.
(gentle sultry music)
(woman singing in French)
She enjoyed having lovers.
She enjoyed the excitement.
For Mata Hari, money was simply freedom.
It allowed her unparalleled access
to experiences of all kinds.
She loved luxury, she
loved beautiful gowns,
she loved beautiful jewels, furs, horses.
So she was broke all the time.
But that was not a problem.
(lively upbeat music)
Mata Hari used money as a resource.
It was something that
symbolized freedom and happiness
and being close to a man in uniform
was something different than money.
It was being close to power.
[Mata Hari] My lovers were
some of the most powerful
and aristocratic men,
yet I did not fall in
love with any of them.
(lively upbeat music continues)
When I was first in
Madrid, I met Jules Cambon,
then the French ambassador to Spain.
Another of my long-time lovers
was Henri de Rothschild.
Alfred Messimy who was Minister of War
was another of my lovers.
Having a relationship with an older man
allowed Mata Hari to play
the young, cherished,
free, feminine that she sought
from her early childhood.
And repeating that scenario
over and over and over again
is very telling about where
her psychic development lie.
(gentle dramatic music)
When Mata Hari was on stage,
she really came alive.
And she had once said about herself
that no one would come to see me
if I didn't take off all my clothes.
And I think that she was really missing
that what they came to see
was that she performed so fully
with every bit of her body.
I see that as her most authentic.
See me completely bare, offer
myself to something higher.
(gentle pensive music)
[Mata Hari] I still had hopes
of being able to have Non with me.
But in 1906, Rudolf wished to
remarry and filed for divorce
on the grounds of immoral
behavior, indecency, and adultery.
His lawyer threatened to show photos
of my nude dancing in court.
I was forced to concede,
and Rudolf was awarded custody of Non.
I did not know when I would be able
to see my daughter again.
She was able to quit her
career to follow a man.
The first time with a German
lieutenant, Albert Kiepert.
He was married to a
beautiful Hungarian lady.
Very rich, in fact the
money was from his wife
which can obviously create a problem.
[Mata Hari] I remained
with my lover, Kiepert,
for three years.
He set me up in Berlin
and kept me sumptuously.
[Catherine] They even
went on a cruise to Egypt.
[Mata Hari] And during this
time, I rarely performed.
Finally, family said stop.
If not, you will get divorced.
[Mata Hari] Kiepert separated from me
and gave me 300,000 marks.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] The second
time she followed someone
was a French banker named Xavier Rousseau.
Xavier Rousseau was married, too.
Suddenly, she leaves Paris
and she went to the country
to live nearly two years.
[Mata Hari] My lover Rousseau
visited on the weekends.
But I was quite alone during the week.
(gentle wistful music)
[Catherine] She would ride a lot.
She had four beautiful horses.
Mata Hari was the most
clean woman you can imagine.
She had an obsession with hygiene.
She would take long baths.
There was no running water in the chateau,
so you can imagine the servant
with the hot water bucket
twice a day.
[Mata Hari] In 1912,
Rousseau's bad investments
drained my private fortune,
over 200,000 marks.
I separated from him, sold everything
and resumed my life in theater.
I went to Milan and I had
a highly successful two months engagement.
I danced "The Princess
and the Magic Flower,"
at the prestigious La Scala Theater.
(audience applauding)
(lively upbeat music)
My fame restored,
I danced the part of
Venus in Marenco's ballet.
Of course this part suited me perfectly.
The conductor, Tullio Serafin,
affectionately called me
"una creatura adorable."
An adorable creature.
My performance was a triumph,
and I had another charming devotee.
(gentle uplifting music)
Back in France, I kept in the
spotlight with garden parties.
I invited Inayat Khan, the
renowned Indian musician,
to perform with me.
The association with Inayat
Khan enhanced my reputation.
(audience applauding)
(dramatic upbeat music)
The role I truly desired,
was that of Salome.
Salome was the reason
that John the Baptist was decapitated.
She was a very sensual and beautiful woman
just like Mata Hari.
She's appealing but she's also dangerous.
The Salome dance was
going on across Europe
in the early 1900s, it was
not Mata Hari's invention.
(tense dramatic music)
The Salome dance was
very erotic, very risque.
But the Salome craze was possible
because this was a Biblical text
and so they could get away with it.
Mata Hari really wanted to dance the part
of Oscar Wilde's "Salome."
But this part was being performed
by her rival, Maud Allan.
[Mata Hari] I knew I
could dance a more alluring
and authentic Salome than Maud Allan,
who had borrowed
shamelessly from my costume
and style of dance.
Mata Hari longed to dance this part.
She managed to perform it privately
for Prince di San Faustino
at a palace in Rome.
Mata Hari got very naked
during this performance,
and the prince was so pleased
he commissioned a painting of Mata Hari
as a topless, laughing Salome.
(gentle poignant music)
[Mata Hari] In 1912, Rudolf
divorced his second wife,
and I petitioned the Dutch
government for custody of Non.
My request was denied.
Rudolf refused to allow me
to see or even write to Non.
I'm grief-stricken that my daughter
is growing up without me.
(gentle pensive music)
Mata Hari was now over 30.
She had difficulties to
find engagements to dance.
[Mata Hari] I was
turned down by Diaghilev
and the Ballets Russes
because he found my figure too matronly.
To make matters worse,
Eastern dancers had
sprung out of the ground.
The music halls were
crowded with imitators.
[Charles] She was facing
competitors, imitators,
who picked up the idea
and tried to pass themselves
off as the equivalent.
[Mata Hari] Not only did I
have imitators to contend with,
but other artists such as Louie Fuller
and Isadora Duncan who
continue to be popular
with Parisian audiences.
The difference between
Mata Hari and Isadora Duncan?
Isadora Duncan was the
founder of modern dance.
Dance was everything to her.
She had a theory of dance
and her idea was to
spread it to the world.
Mata Hari used her art
form to advance herself.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari did perform
at the Folies Bergere.
It was a step-down from her
aristocratic circle beginning.
[Mata Hari] In 1913, I
played to sold out audiences
at the Folies Bergere.
I danced a Spanish piece
based on a Goya painting.
I became desperate enough
to perform in a low-class
theater in Sicily
that included a trained dog act.
(gentle pensive music)
I have to confess, my
star was growing dimmer.
(bright cheerful music)
Mata Hari had been a star.
She was riding the wave from 1905 to 1914.
Whatever she did was a success.
And all of a sudden in
1914, all that stopped.
It's not a good year for her.
She has to leave Paris because
she spends so much money.
She never paid one bill.
(tense dramatic music)
[Mata Hari] I was thrilled
to land a six-month engagement
in Berlin, at the Metropol Theater.
Just what I needed to reignite my career.
(gentle pensive music)
We have that curious
testimony of Mata Hari,
a letter she sent to Inayat Khan
two days before the war broke out,
where she tries to get
him to come to Berlin.
And one is left wondering
that even at that period
she was not really aware
that war was on the point of breaking out.
She lived in a world of her own.
She did not really relate
to the outside world
and the real dangers
in that outside world.
(explosions booming)
(tense dramatic music)
World War I breaks out
and the foreigners have to leave Berlin,
including Mata Hari.
It all stops because of the war.
And then she writes down in her scrapbook
"La guerre, theatre ferme."
The theater has been closed. It's war.
She writes it down but doesn't realize
that all things have changed now.
I think that's her fate,
not having this insight
in what's really happening now,
and that her role has been faded out.
After the start of the war,
she found herself in Berlin
with all her bank accounts
and assets frozen,
so she had no money to go back to Holland.
She seduced a Dutch businessman
who paid for her train
ticket back to The Hague.
But she has to find money
because nobody was waiting for her.
(dramatic music)
She takes on a new lover,
Baron van der Capellan,
who supports her.
When she was in The Hague,
someone knocked at the door one evening,
and that someone was the Consul
of Germany, Herr Kroemer.
And Herr Kroemer thought she might be
a good agent for him.
Kroemer asked her to spy for Germany
and offered her money to do so.
Nowadays the equivalent of around $60,000.
The reason why Mata Hari
was so desirable as a spy
is because she already had a network
that was very interesting
for secret services.
As a courtesan, she had
contacts in government circles,
and because of her love
for men in uniform,
she had many friends amongst
high-ranking military officers.
[Yves] Mata Hari accepted,
and Kroemer supplied her
with invisible ink, instructed
her to sign her letters
with the codename H21.
(gentle brooding music)
H21, that was her codename,
was a very amateur spy.
She didn't do it because
she felt loyal to Germany,
she didn't do it because she hated France,
she did it because she needed the money.
And she also did it because she was hoping
that would be an opportunity
to take money from the Germans.
So she thought, "If a German guy
is willing to give me money, why not?"
That's only a way of getting reimbursed
from what the Germans stole from me.
To her, becoming H21 and
working for the Germans
in some faraway future,
she was a bit like Scarlett
in "Gone with the Wind."
We'll see about that tomorrow,
and tomorrow seemed always
to be an eternity ahead.
She had no reason to
consider herself as a spy.
So, as a matter of fact,
we think that she threw the
small bottle of invisible ink
into the channel as soon as she could.
[Mata Hari] Although The
Hague proved to be a safe haven
from the war, it was too quiet.
And Rudolf did not permit me to see Non.
I decided to return to Paris.
Mata Hari returning to Paris
at the height of the Battle of Verdun,
yes, it was distinctly an
unusual decision to make.
But it wasn't a smart thing to do.
(gentle solemn music)
The Paris she was going
to was not the same Paris.
Everybody had been changed by the war.
[Mary] World War I made Paris
a sadder, more silent place.
No people on the streets, no cafes.
No place for pleasure or entertainment.
So many families had lost
sons and fathers and brothers.
France was in mourning.
As a foreign woman,
Mata Hari was viewed with great suspicion.
[Jean-Pierre] She
doesn't seem to realize
that the whole world is ablaze.
She was not an international
dancer anymore, she was a spy.
To the very end she never
realized her life was in danger.
(tense ominous music)
[Mata Hari] When I
arrived back in Paris,
I stayed, as usual, at the Grand Hotel.
I soon noticed
that I was constantly
being followed by two men.
They watched my every move.
[Jean-Pierre] She's under
scrutiny from the very morning
to the end of the evening.
And we have in the
official file of the case
all the details about what Mata Hari does.
She meets friends. She goes to shops.
Except of course it's wartime
and nothing is like before.
Which doesn't prevent her
from spending the money she doesn't have.
(quiet piano music)
If you have a look at the dossier,
all the bills of hat makers, stores,
so on and so forth are there.
And you see she spends literally fortunes.
Apparently the money she had
was the money from her old flame
who was still paying for her
life and her buying sprees.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Mata Hari] I met and fell in love
with Captain Vladimir de Massloff,
a handsome, 21-year-old Russian officer.
He is the only man I have truly loved.
She's madly in love with him,
and that's going to change her life.
And unfortunately, it's not
going to change it for the best.
[Mata Hari] Vladimir
was stationed near Vittel,
and I was desperate to
go and see him again.
Vittel was so close to the front
that I needed a special
stamp to travel there.
(explosions booming)
(gunfire cracking)
I was advised to see
Captain Georges Ladoux,
the head of French intelligence.
(gentle pensive music)
Captain Ladoux received me respectfully.
He remarked that if I loved all of France,
I could render France a great service.
I said I had not thought of it.
He asked me to reflect upon it.
He stamped my paper for Vittel
and asked me to let him know
my decision upon my return.
(gentle wistful music)
Some of the most beautiful days of my life
were spent in Vittel with my dear Vadim.
(gentle romantic music)
They will stay at the Parc Hotel,
which is the best hotel there.
And there they're going to
spend a few days and nights,
not even going out.
Of course the police officers
were following her as usual
and they scrupulously
write down a timetable.
She's in bed all day with Massloff,
and this is the apex of her life.
There's no reason to doubt
that she was really deeply in love.
(cannon booms)
(tense dramatic music)
[Mata Hari] I learned that Vadim
had been gravely injured
by asphyxiating gas
and was in danger of going blind.
I began to reflect.
I must ask Captain Ladoux for enough money
that I never have to deceive
Vadim with other men.
I will do what the captain asks.
Captain Ladoux will pay
me, I will marry my lover,
and I will be the happiest woman on Earth.
Mata Hari's attraction to espionage
was probably like a game.
Her life was already so fictional
that this was just one more
chapter in her fictional book.
(gentle somber music)
Seeing that Massloff is not
as much in love with Mata Hari
as she is with him, does not imply
that he doesn't have any feelings for her.
For Vladimir, it was the power flip
where she wasn't so concerned
with what he could do for her
but with the giving of herself.
(gentle pensive music)
[Mata Hari] Upon my return from Vittel,
I went to see Ladoux.
I told him that I would accept
his offer to spy for France.
I asked for a million francs.
He was taken aback by the
sum, but agreed to pay
if I truly rendered the
service he requested.
It was agreed
that she would travel to the Netherlands
to get more information
and more instructions.
It's questionable whether Ladoux
really wanted Mata Hari
to become a real spy.
I would tend to believe
that he's like a big cat
playing with a small mouse.
[Mata Hari] On Captain Ladoux's orders,
I began my journey.
I boarded a boat from Spain
bound for the Netherlands,
and from there I could travel to Belgium.
When our boat docked at the
English port of Falmouth,
I was rudely awakened.
The British counter-intelligence officer
mistakes her for a well-known female spy,
called Clara Benedix.
But when the British tell her,
"You are the famous Clara
Benedix spy, aren't you?"
She burst out laughing and
she says, "No, I'm not.
Have a look at the
photo you're showing me.
She's much fatter than I am."
[Mata Hari] The officer
took from his pocket
an amateur photograph of a
woman dressed in Spanish style.
My protestations did not convince him.
My cabin was searched with
unheard of thoroughness.
They were unfastening the
paintings from the walls
and looking under my bed
with an electric lamp.
(tense suspenseful music)
I was subjected to a personal search.
The officer made me disembark
and took me to London with my baggage.
After Mata Hari was
arrested, taken off the boat,
and onto the train to London,
she charmed her escorting agents so much,
that they allowed her
to first go to a hotel
and change her clothes
before going to interrogation
at Scotland Yard.
She's interrogated by number one
British counterintelligence
network, Basil Thomson.
Well, he knows that
she's not Clara Benedix.
And I don't think he ever
believes she's a professional spy.
[Mata Hari] I was quite upset
as I was detained four days
and interrogated intensely.
Being confronted with
Basil Thomson, she says,
"Incidentally, I'm on your side, you know,
I'm working for you."
[Mata Hari] Finally I said,
"I have something to tell
you that will surprise you.
Captain Ladoux asked me
to go into his service
and I promised to do something for him.
He told me to go to Holland
and await his instructions."
Which of course no real spy
would ever say even to allies.
And she says, "You can ask him, you know.
If you send a cable to
Paris he will confirm
that I am actually a French agent
undercover working for him."
Thomson sends a cable to the
Ministry of the War in Paris
and gets a rather embarrassed
and confused answer from Ladoux.
Ladoux said, "No, I didn't hire her."
But he asked them to let her
go and send her to Spain,
and that's what they did.
So she was placed back on a ship to Spain.
Ladoux set a trap for Mata Hari.
He betrayed her, whereas she thought
that they had an agreement.
And so she goes back to Spain.
With that episode goes her
dream of going to Belgium
and spying for the French.
Being a resourceful
woman, she finds a plan B,
and that is simply, "Since I'm in Spain,
why not make the best of it?"
[Marijke] She has contact
with the German head of
intelligence, Mr. Von Kalle.
She says Kalle was no
difficult prey at all.
I did what a woman would
do under such circumstances
to seduce him, and it worked.
The more intimate he gets with
her, the more he is doubting.
- He betrays her.
- (tense ominous music)
He writes telegrams in code
that he knew the French
had already deciphered,
so the French could read those telegrams.
Kalle says to the Germans,
"I've been in touch with our agent H21."
Mata Hari was obviously the
person Kalle was talking about.
When he gives her three secrets,
he makes sure that those
secrets are not fresh secrets.
And of course, she decides
to go back to France
and speak with Ladoux face-to-face.
[Mata Hari] I returned to Paris
with information for Ladoux.
I went to his office several
times and sent him messages.
But he refused to see me.
She's, one might say,
unbalanced by what's happening.
She doesn't understand.
She catches a coach
that takes her far away
to the suburbs of Paris.
(street sounds)
And if you go through the
secret files of the War Council,
you know exactly what she did there
because the police went to
that place after she'd left
and had a word with the
person who was living there,
a lady who called herself a medium.
(tense foreboding music)
The medium tells her, "I see two things.
You're not going to get your million.
And the second thing I see
is your end is very near."
(tense foreboding music swells)
From then on things go
from bad to worse for her.
In France, justice is represented
as a beautiful woman, blindfolded.
It means that she must be blind
to what's happening around the case,
she's supposed to decide on.
And in Mata Hari's case,
one can say that justice
was not blindfolded.
(tense brooding music)
[Mata Hari] I was arrested
by the French police.
I was taken to Monsieur Bouchardon
who informed me that I was
named as German Agent H21.
Once you are accused of being a spy,
it was very difficult.
Your fate was sealed.
[Mata Hari] I am accused
of attempted espionage,
of passing intelligence to the enemy,
and of receiving payment from the Germans.
I deny all allegations. I am innocent.
French counterespionage
is playing with me.
I have only acted on instructions.
In the year of her arrest,
things are not going
very well for the allies.
[Jean-Pierre] People
were dead tired of the war.
Nobody would have thought
that the war would go on
for more than four years.
There were desertions everywhere,
and people were waiting
for blows to be exerted
on what they perceived was the enemy.
The First World War was partly fought
through war propaganda and intelligence.
This also encouraged a sort of paranoia.
Everybody could be a spy.
(tense foreboding music)
Conspiracy theories are developed
to explain why they are not
able to defeat the Germans.
And one of these conspiracy theories
is that Germans have
lots of femmes fatales
who are actually sent to allied officers
to seduce them to squeeze
information out of them.
Public opinion needed a scapegoat.
She fits the picture perfectly.
(tense dramatic music)
[Jean-Pierre] Bouchardon was probably
Mata Hari's worst enemy.
Mata Hari represents what
he hates most in the world.
She was pretty, she was promiscuous,
and he had this puritanical nature
that made her look like the
incarnation of the devil.
Mata Hari was a threatening figure.
Her boldness, her sexuality,
the way that she lived her life
was definitely in an untraditional way
that a woman would live her life.
Mata Hari was a very
convenient propaganda piece.
Bouchardon knew exactly
that they had the prey they needed.
Can you imagine that woman
who'd been the Queen of Paris,
she was thrown into the worst
prison in Paris at the time,
the infamous prison Saint-Lazare.
Damp, rats, insects, fleas.
(gentle somber music)
Minimum comfort if you
can call a wooden bed
and a wooden chair and a bucket
for what you imagine, comfort.
And she would spend months there.
Mata Hari is pleading her cause
in an endless series of
letters to Bouchardon.
[Mata Hari] For three months
I am imprisoned in this cell.
Morally and physically,
you have done me such harm
that I beg you to end it.
I cannot support any longer the filth,
the lack of care for my body,
and the disgusting food.
Nearly every day she writes to him.
Please lieutenant, sell my jewels,
what is left of my jewels.
Get the money to enable
me to buy a piece of soap.
Please let me have a
bath, I can't stand it.
(gentle melancholic music)
Every letter she wrote to
Bouchardon to ask for money
to be able to buy extra food
or to buy soap was rejected.
[Mata Hari] I beg you to permit me
to let Captain de Massloff
know what has happened to me.
He could think I have left Paris
without saying anything to him.
He does not deserve to
suffer because of me.
[Vladimir] My darling,
I am completely astonished
by your silence.
I wait every day for your response.
Each day I do not hear from
you feels like an eternity.
Upon receipt of this, please telegraph me.
Fortunately for Mata Hari,
she had an old friend, Edouard Clunet,
who was a star amongst
barristers at the time.
He very heartily tried to defend her.
But Bouchardon, as well
as his fellow, Mornet,
who was going to present
the case to the court
when she would be judged,
Bouchardon and Mornet did
absolutely everything they could
to hinder his work.
Edouard Clunet was never
allowed to be present
when she was interrogated.
During the investigation into Mata Hari,
Bouchardon was suddenly given
some telegrams by Ladoux.
The authenticity of these
telegrams is questionable.
What is important is that
these telegrams were key
into convicting Mata Hari.
Ladoux never told Bouchardon
that the telegrams were written
in the old code that the Germans knew
the French could decipher.
The telegrams were sent
by the German military
attache in Madrid, Kalle.
They referred to Agent H21,
and informed Berlin that she has arrived
and pretended to spy for the French.
Bouchardon, with telegrams in hand,
now zeroed in for the attack.
And he shows her all the cables.
"Now stop pretending you're innocent.
I have here strong evidence
against you. You are guilty.
Incidentally, you were hoping
that Massloff would come
and testify for you,
but your love Massloff
is going away and he's going to be married
to a Russian girl."
And this of course is devastating.
He sends her back to prison
where he leaves her for a few weeks,
hoping she's going to break down.
And this is what's going to happen.
[Mata Hari] I cannot stand this life.
I would rather hang myself from the bars
than to live like this.
(tense ominous music)
I fear I will never see my Non again.
During her interrogation by Bouchardon,
Mata Hari made one fatal mistake.
What she confessed to Bouchardon
was that she was visited by Kroemer
and that he asked her to spy for Germany.
And he offered her money.
(gentle brooding music)
[Mata Hari] I never intended
to spy for the Germans,
and I never did.
I accepted the money
because the Germans owed me
for the valuable belongings
which they seized from me.
So she says, "Okay, I
did work for the Germans.
Okay, I did receive the H21 madrigal,
but I never really worked for the Germans.
On the contrary, I worked for Ladoux."
Well, Ladoux never answered
and never came to testify in her favor.
So she's trapped.
(tense foreboding music)
(door thuds)
(latch clicks)
She was judged and condemned
by military justice.
The military justice was
extremely fast and expedient.
The case itself was judged
in one day and a half.
[Mata Hari] Of all
my influential lovers,
only two had the courage
to come to my defense.
Jules Cambon testified
that I had never asked him
about military or domestic affairs.
Henri de Marguerie, admonished
Prosecutor Mornet by saying,
"You well know she is not a spy.
Nothing has ever spoiled my
good opinion of this lady."
His kind words afforded
me some small comfort.
My lover Vadim did not testify.
I was relieved because I
could not bear to see him
under these circumstances.
The law says whoever's
been in touch with the enemy,
who's been passing
intelligence to the enemy
is a spy and should be shot.
She'd been in touch with the Germans.
She'd passed information,
even if it was absolutely worthless.
The prosecutor ended the
trial with the statement
that Mata Hari was perhaps
the greatest spy ever.
The reality is that she
wasn't a very good spy.
She was a terrible spy.
It only took them 45 minutes
to come up with a verdict.
(bells ringing)
Guilty, which meant that she was
going to have to face the firing squad.
And she was taken back to
prison to await her death.
(tense foreboding music)
This is the part where she
becomes the myth she is today.
People, very often are not
equal to themselves in death.
She was more than equal.
(voices singing mournfully)
Every day, every night, she
was waiting for the footsteps
of the people coming to fetch her,
to take her to the place where
she was going to be shot.
(tense foreboding music continues)
[Mata Hari] Death is nothing,
neither is life. Dying-
"Sleeping, dreaming, passing away.
It's all part of one process
of either being or not being
in whichever way one
seeks to interpret it."
That's very striking indeed, I should say.
And deeply touching, of course.
(gentle brooding music)
By all accounts, Mata
Hari faced her death
with great bravery and grace.
Her life was a stage and
this was the last curtain call.
[Mata Hari] Do not
cry. Be cheerful like me.
Imagine that I'm going on a long journey.
That I will return and we
will find each other again.
There is an element of
still living in the fantasy
and the illusion of Mata Hari.
She didn't really come back
down to Margaretha Zelle,
even in her final moments.
Her execution was her final performance.
There were nearly 200 people
witnessing the execution.
It was like the cinema or the theater.
(gentle foreboding music)
She stood very erect.
She refused to be blindfolded.
She blew a kiss to the priest,
blew a kiss to her lawyer.
- [Soldier] Fire!
- (gunfire cracking)
(pistol booms)
(soldier speaking French)
(soft pensive music)
The sergeant major even said,
"By God, this lady
really knows how to die."
She died the character that she created.
At that moment, she
became the worldwide myth
and star she is today.
(siren wailing)
The next day, newspapers were
commenting upon the execution.
Many journalists had been so impressed
that they wrote articles in praise of her.
And the military censorship
had to censor the newspapers.
She was a 20th century woman
who was killed by the
last 19th century men.
Mata Hari has definitely
reached mythological status.
[Marijke] She became a
Hollywood and film icon,
because she has been depicted
for a hundred years now.
Every author makes his own Mata Hari.
[Shauna] She was a
powerful, feminine figure
who did things her own way.
She was already a free woman,
she was already fighting for values
which are our values
today, being equal to men,
being free to organize her life.
And Mata Hari was an enigma.
She had the projection for anybody.
So whatever the culture wants
to see in her, it's there.
She's a Madonna, she's
a whore, she's a spy,
she's a stripper, she's a
dancer, performance artist.
She's got something for everybody.
[Marijke] Mata Hari's
lasting legacy is the idea
that you are not bound to the
life that you are born into.
You can choose your own biography.
You can chase after your dream.
You can become whatever you want.
She is the ultimate self-made woman.
(gentle inspirational music)
(soft pensive music)
[Mata Hari] Death is
nothing. Neither is life.
All is illusion.
(gentle poignant music)
(gentle poignant music continues)
(gentle upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music continues)
[Mata Hari] I have
danced in Paris, Madrid,
Monte Carlo, Berlin, and Vienna.
I have performed for barons,
ambassadors, and princes.
(gentle upbeat music)
From the moment I introduced
my Javanese dances,
my fate was sealed.
With every veil I threw
off, my success rose.
Pretending to consider
my dances very artistic,
thus praising my art,
they came to see nudity.
I chose an Indian name. I became
Mata Hari, Eye of the Day.
I received the protection
of the richest men,
and I did not lack the
skill to profit from that.
Realize that I have lived all
my adult life as Mata Hari,
that I think and act as her.
(gentle ominous music)
I am a woman of the world,
but I'm not a traitor.
I beg you to believe me.
I never committed a
single act of espionage
against France, never.
(dramatic music)
(gentle pensive music)
(gentle pensive music continues)
[Mata Hari] I was born
Margaretha Zelle, August 7th, 1876.
We lived in Leeuwarden, a small
country town in Friesland,
which is in the northern
part of the Netherlands.
My father's grandest moment
was being selected to be in
the Mounted Guard of Honor
when King Willem III visited Leeuwarden.
Margaretha's father was a boastful man.
He liked to show off that he did well
and sometimes people called
him mockingly, The Baron.
[Catherine] He was not a
baron. He was just a hat maker.
He owned a store in the
central street of Leeuwarden.
And he wanted to have more.
His daughter, Margaretha,
was the apple of his eye.
He just loved this girl.
Margaretha heard her father
invent things about his family,
his ancestors, his real life.
So she learned that a pleasant lie
is more rewarding than plain truth.
Margaretha was a spoiled child.
Her father gave her lavish gifts,
including a small carriage drawn by goats.
(gentle piano music)
She was the most pretty
girl in Leeuwarden.
She went to the best private school
that her father could find.
She learned what she
would use all her life.
Languages, she learned
German, French and English.
She would learn to ride,
she just loved horses.
This is an enchanted childhood
up to her 13th birthday,
when suddenly things
became from bad to worse.
[Shauna] When Mata Hari was 13,
her father came upon hard times.
[Marijke] He went bankrupt.
That was very shameful.
And subsequently the
father left the family.
[Catherine] She had to quit school.
School was very expensive.
[Marijke] A year later,
Margaretha's mother
died of tuberculosis.
(piano music)
[Catherine] On the day
of her mother's death,
she would play piano all day long.
And that was shocking for the neighbors
because when you are in
mourning, you don't play music.
(gentle somber music)
She went to live with her
godfather, Mr. Visser.
He did not know what to
do with this teenager.
So he decided to send her to school
to become a school teacher
for small children.
[Gerk] When Margaretha was
studying to be a teacher,
she had this affair.
[Marijke] There were
allegations that she was found
on the lap of Director Haanstra.
So that something was, yeah, going on.
[Catherine] The headmaster
fell madly in love with
this young girl.
The scandal was huge.
[Marijke] This affair
didn't affect Mr. Haanstra.
There were no consequences for him.
She was tainted by this
affair, she had to leave.
She went to live with her
uncle and aunt in The Hague.
[Catherine] So she spent her days
reading the classified advertisements
in the local newspaper.
Suddenly she came on
something very interesting.
[Mata Hari] "Officer on home
leave from Dutch East Indies
would like to meet a girl
of pleasant character.
Object, matrimony."
[Catherine] So she answered this ad.
She had the wonderful idea
to send a photo of her,
and on this photograph, she's
absolutely breathtaking.
So he answered Margaretha.
They decided to meet in Amsterdam
in front of the Rijksmuseum.
Six days later they were engaged.
(gentle music)
[Catherine] Rudolf
MacLeod was 39 at the time.
He was an officer. He was
not in very good health.
He has diabetes and he was alcoholic
and he was very bad tempered.
The only good thing we can say about him,
he still had some allure
when he was in a uniform.
So this was a great chance for her
to become a decent, married woman.
[Catherine] We have incredible
letters from Margaretha
to Rudolf MacLeod.
So audacious for the time.
Giving intimate details
on their sexual life.
[Mata Hari] You ask me
if I'm longing to do crazy things.
Rather 10 times than only one.
I do not believe, either,
that all these pleasures can ever end.
[Catherine] She loved to make love
and he enjoyed her very much.
[Mata Hari] Rudolf and I
were married July 11th, 1895,
in a civil ceremony, at
the city hall in Amsterdam.
I was 19. He was 39.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] Their life
changed drastically.
They had no money because Rudolf's pension
was not very high.
[Mata Hari] I had not
married to go without luxury,
and I was flirtatious
and he did not like that.
I had inclinations that made it impossible
for a woman like me to
be a good housewife.
I was not content at home.
I confess frankly, I wanted to live
like a colorful butterfly in the sun.
(gentle dramatic music)
(gentle cheerful music)
On January 30th, 1897,
our son Norman was born.
Three months later, we
boarded the Prinses Amalia
bound for the Dutch East Indies.
I was so glad to leave
Amsterdam for a new life.
When they finally got to Java,
it was a total disappointment
for Margaretha.
The first assignment was
in the center of Java,
and there was nothing there
except insects and heat.
She had this baby, of course,
and very quickly she was pregnant again.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Mata Hari] On May 2nd, 1898,
our daughter Jeanne Louise was born.
We always called our daughter Non,
which is Malaysian for young girl.
Non was a beautiful child, with
my dark hair and dark eyes.
(gentle pensive music)
[Catherine] Margaretha was really happy.
She had her two babies, of course,
but she was discharged of
all duties of a mother.
For the first time, she felt free,
and she became very interested
in the culture of Java.
She used to wear a sari, and
she was learning how to dance.
She learns even a few words of Malaysian.
And nearly every night
there was a ball or a party
and she was dancing with officers.
(gentle poignant music)
[Shauna] Rudolf wanted
her to be beautiful
and quiet and servile.
She was beautiful, but she
was definitely not quiet
and not servile,
and she did not enact the wifely role.
When it became obvious
that he couldn't conquer her
or own her, he grew
increasingly physically
and emotionally violent.
[Mata Hari] Rudolf is intolerable.
Meanwhile, the young
lieutenants pursue me,
and are in love with me.
It's difficult for me to behave in a way
which will give my husband
no cause for reproach.
(gentle music)
Suddenly, this terrible
thing happened, this tragedy.
[Mata Hari] Norman and
Non became violently ill,
vomiting a terrible black liquid.
Over the course of a week,
their condition worsened.
Rudolf stayed by Norman's bedside.
(gentle wistful music)
Slowly, little Norman's life ebbed away.
Non miraculously survived.
Rudolf was heartbroken.
You can only be moved by his grief.
And of course Margaretha
was devastated too.
[Mata Hari] My lovely
little Norman has died,
and I'm not in a state
to write much about it.
The passing of my dear Norman
has taken everything out of me.
Norman died, and it's not clear
what is the cause of this death.
There were rumors that Rudolf,
who was not very faithful,
gave syphilis to Margaretha
and the children,
so they had to be treated, and
the cure was very aggressive.
That could also be a cause
for the death of this little boy Norman.
(gentle poignant music)
It's a bundle of letters
written in the years 1902, 1903, 1904.
And in these letters, this
is the real Margaretha Zelle.
It gave so much insight
in the person she was
before she was famous.
[Marijke] In one of
Margaretha's letters,
she discloses that she had syphilis
and that the whole family
was treated for that.
She wants that to remain a secret
because that of course was very shameful.
She cares especially
about her daughter Non,
because if people would know
that she had had syphilis
and was treated for that,
she would become unmarriable.
[Mata Hari] Dearest cousin Edward.
I would like to tell you something
that I do not wish to be
for cousin Anna's ears.
When you have a moment alone with Rudolf,
just ask him the reason why his child
spent three months at the
hospital, and had to undergo
a topical treatment of
mercury and blue ointment.
[Gerk] She explained that
she had been treated with mercury.
Both children had been forced
to undergo this treatment.
And here is an indication that Norman
was killed by the mercury treatment.
It was a very secret thing to deal with.
Life became unbearable in this family.
It was not a family anymore.
It was just a grieving couple.
They could not help each other.
They destroyed each other.
(dramatic music)
(Rudolph shouts)
(plate shutters)
[Mata Hari] I am alone
here, in a foreign country,
without family and without anything.
And I can't fight against
such a brutal man.
He hits me, spits on me,
and says the worst
things to me in his rage.
I don't want to be
treated like this anymore.
But I have no money.
Margaretha wanted to go back.
She endlessly asked and begged
to go back to the Netherlands,
and finally he gave in.
(upbeat cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] At last, we are
going back to the Netherlands.
But Rudolf owes so much money.
Upon our return, Rudolf's
creditors hounded him.
He continued to drink, beat me,
and refused to give me any money.
Non fell ill, Rudolf was terrified
this might be a repeat
of Norman's illness.
The next day, Rudolf took
Non to the post office
and never returned.
(gentle somber music)
I filed for divorce.
I asked for custody of Non,
and a monthly allowance of 100 guilders.
Three days later, the court
granted all of my requests
and I had a legal separation.
But Rudolf would not agree to the terms.
Margaretha Zelle was at a pivotal point.
She very much wanted her daughter with her
but she still needed
Rudolf to provide for them.
And Rudolf refused to do so.
[Mata Hari] If Non were living with me,
I would be unable to work.
Every moment of feeling her absence
makes me hate that man the more.
I have been trying all manner of avenues,
but I've been unable to find a decent job.
I am tired of struggling against life,
and I want one of two things.
Either to have Noni with
me and be a proper mother,
or to go to Paris and leave
respectability behind.
I am well-aware that such
a life ends with mishap.
It's a cry from the heart here.
And after such a long time struggling
and looking for a proper life,
she's coming to an end with it.
(gentle apprehensive music)
[Mata Hari] Whatever
I do, I'm besmirched.
I still don't have Non, and I
no longer care about the rest.
I am poverty-stricken.
Auntie said to me, "There's no way out
other than going back to your husband.
You're his wife after all.
He has to support you."
I said, "Auntie, I'm terrified of him.
I'd sooner throw myself under a tram."
(door slams)
I had an acquaintance.
A high-ranking gentleman and
his wife from the East Indies
who said, "You mustn't
return to your husband,
as I am sure he'll mutilate you.
And we cannot have that
on our conscience."
And that gentleman gave
me money for Paris.
[Gerk] And that's where the
story of Mata Hari begins.
(dramatic music)
(gentle lilting music)
In 1904 when Mata Hari came to Paris,
Paris was at its zenith
of glamor and beauty.
It was the City of Light,
a place where everyone wanted to be.
It was a time of change.
It was a time of ferment
on just about every front
that you could think of.
You had Matisse, Picasso.
You had Ravel and Debussy composing music
that just put the traditionalists on edge.
In fashion, Paul Poiret, Fortuny,
draping women rather than
stifling them in clothes.
This was a great time for fashion.
The women were very glamorous
but it was still becoming more free.
(gentle lilting music continues)
[Mary] There was a huge
sense of upheaval going on
as Mata Hari was arriving in town.
(upbeat triumphant music)
She was gorgeous and stubborn,
and she decided to go to
Paris but in her terms.
If you look rich and well-off,
well, everyone will believe it.
She decided to settle in the Grand Hotel,
one of the most famous
palais at the time.
And she did a spectacular
entrance with her majestic walk.
And all the men in the Grand
Hotel looked at her and said,
"Who is this creature?"
(gentle upbeat music)
She was settled as a femme de la nuit,
which is not exactly a prostitute.
Women like Mata Hari were independent,
forging their own careers,
but they were also in search of rich guys
who would foot some bills
and help them along.
And certainly Mata Hari
found one after another
of those men.
[Catherine] She had the
basis, the Grand Hotel,
and she had some money.
(lively playful music)
Ernst Mollier hired Mata Hari
to be a part of the circus.
[Catherine] Her first job
was in the Cirque Molier
as a professional horse woman.
She performed in the Cirque Molier,
this aristocratic, private circus.
And there, she was able
to meet other people
of the highest social level in Paris.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] Finally she decided
to become an exotic dancer.
[Aurelie] Mata Hari discovered
the dance in Indonesia,
in Java, and she tried to
recreate a kind of Indian dance
mixed with European elements.
The salons were an essential
and very important part
of Paris' cultural life.
There would be music,
there would be singing.
There would be sometimes dancing.
And this is how Mata Hari
found her entree into society.
[Mata Hari] At the
salon of Madame Kireevksy,
I caught the eye of Emil Guimet,
who had recently opened
his Museum of Oriental Art,
the Musee Guimet.
[Aurelie] Emil Guimet knew perfectly
Mata Hari wasn't a true dancer.
The things he want with
her is to create the buzz.
(lively cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] Emil Guimet invited
600 of Paris' elite society
to attend my premiere
performance at the Musee Guimet.
It was a coveted invitation,
as everyone was eager
to see for themselves
if the rumors about me were true.
Emile Guimet selected the audience.
We had writers, artists,
and some people very important
for the nightlife in Paris
that can speak about the events.
March 13, 1905,
that was the most important
evening of her life.
(gentle ethereal music)
(gentle mysterious music)
[Aurelie] Mata Hari appears as a shadow.
So it was a kind of apparition.
It was quite a scandal to
have these very mixed things,
Shiva, Guimet, Asia, a beautiful woman.
It was a kind of atmosphere,
very non-conventional
for the time.
(gentle sultry music)
She made three dances
and she removed in each
dance, a part of her costume.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari's costume was very exotic.
She had an exotic
headdress, lots of jewelry,
a metal bra, lots of veils and scarves.
(music crescendos with
rapid beating of tablas)
In the shadow of the library,
the audience thought
that she finished nude.
But it's not true. She had
a very transparent veil.
We know that because we have the pictures.
But all the people
thought that she was nude.
All of the newspapers made the headlines
on the nudity of Mata Hari.
It was a scandal.
In one night, Paris was at her feet.
At her bare feet.
(gentle spirited music)
[Mary] By presenting
herself as an art form,
Mata Hari raised herself above
the level of the entertainer,
the strip tease, the circus.
And it became something very, very classy.
Historically, Paris
has always been a place
that has loved
entertainment, women, glamor.
She became headline news overnight.
Everyone knew her name by morning.
[Aurelie] And Emile
Guimet was very happy
because everybody spoke
about the Musee Guimet.
And for Mata Hari, it
was also very successful
because everybody wanted to
receive Mata Hari the dancer.
(gentle upbeat music)
Beginning with her performance
at the Guimet Museum in Paris,
which won her enormous publicity
and favor with aristocratic circles,
she was able to do a dance
that was a kind of strip tease
and a kind of erotic,
sexually charged dance.
She was able to do this
without having any of the
overtones of vulgarity
because she was able to
present it as a religious rite.
(gentle upbeat music continues)
Her dancing became very
much, almost like educational.
And so she could take off all her clothes,
and the gentlemen could enjoy that
while the women could just say,
"Oh, well, she's teaching us something
about the Far East that's
very, very important."
[Mata Hari] My dance is a sacred poem
in which each movement is a word.
And whose every move
is underlined by music.
(gentle serene music)
The temple in which I dance can be vague
or faithfully reproduced,
for I am the temple.
One must always translate the three stages
which correspond to the divine attributes
of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Creation through incarnation.
(gentle sultry music)
Mata Hari had to have had
a dynamic stage presence
in order to achieve the
kind of success she did.
There's definitely something to be said
for the presence that you command
and the authenticity of what you're doing,
believing in what you're
doing, even if it's made up.
Continuing to perform in
salons and in elite gatherings,
not just on a stage, continued
to give her a certain cachet.
(lively cheerful music)
[Mata Hari] The
impresario, Gabriel Astruc,
the top agent in Europe,
became my manager.
He booked me into the Olympia Theater.
[Charles] It was at the Olympia
on the Boulevard des Capucines,
and it drew the best
performers and the well-to-do.
[Mata Hari] This was the
beginning of my greatest success.
For the first time, large
audiences could come to see me.
(audience applauding)
And they were eager to do so.
I performed "Le Reve" and
earned the astounding sum
of 10,000 francs.
(gentle music)
My reviews were glowing,
full of lavish praise.
Mata Hari was a sensation in Paris,
but very quickly her fame spread around.
(gentle poignant music)
[Mata Hari] I became
a sought-after star.
I traveled to Madrid where
I entranced my audiences.
(audience applauding)
I danced two weeks with
full houses every night.
(lively upbeat music)
In Monte Carlo, I was given the lead role
in Massenet's much-loved
opera, "Le Roi de Lahore."
This earned me the
artistic respect I coveted.
She went to dance in Monaco
and Massenet was crazy about
Mata Hari, he called her Mata.
He wrote a letter to her when
she was living in Berlin,
and on the envelope the address
was only Mata Hari, Berlin.
She received the letter.
(light playful music)
[Mata Hari] I performed
in Berlin and Vienna.
With my fluent German, I
captured the imagination
and adulation of my audiences.
(audience applauding)
In 1905, I gave over 30 performances
in Paris theaters and salons.
(light playful music continues)
I was the highest paid dancer in Europe.
"Musica" declared me a star of dance.
I thank God I took that train to Paris.
(gentle music)
[Dita] Mata Hari
capitalized on the exoticism
and who her onstage persona was.
One time, she was a
temple dancer's child.
Another time she descended
from Indian royalty.
You name it, she thought
of it, and she told it.
I have to say, she was a
master at getting publicity.
[Yves] What Mata Hari really understood
was the importance of creating
a persona around herself
using the media.
(gentle music continues)
She created her own fantasy world
and convinced her audience
that this world was real.
And it's just so telling
that we're discussing Mata Hari
and we're not discussing Margaretha Zelle.
(gentle mysterious music)
Mata Hari, that's who we wanna talk about.
And Mata Hari is built on
those stories that she told.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari was a real socialite.
She had private performances
at her house in Neuilly,
for which she invited the rich and famous.
She was photographed at the race track.
And also she made appearances
in fashion magazines.
So she did everything to stay
at the center of attention.
(gentle spirited music)
She was always fantasizing
about getting her daughter
back, but she became
a self-created, self-made
woman in Paris with a new life.
She had a sophisticated,
intelligent air about her
that impressed the people she met.
The predominant
characteristic of Mata Hari
was that here was a
woman of great charisma.
[Charles] There was a
charm there, in her being,
in her manner that
invited men to take her in
as their companion, mistress, courtesan.
For example, Gaston Menier,
who was the King of Chocolate in France.
[Mata Hari] Menier praised
the lines of my beautiful body
and called me an Oriental dream.
(lively upbeat music)
[Dita] Mata Hari was one of those women
that was taken care of.
Historically, show
girls were famously kept
and they weren't really even hiding it.
You had patrons that took care of you,
paid for your clothes,
paid for where you live.
Paris is one of those
cities that has always
and will always accept
women like Mata Hari.
(gentle uplifting music)
How did Mata Hari enter
into the life of a courtesan?
I think she entered on
it very enthusiastically,
(chuckling) as I understand.
(gentle sultry music)
(woman singing in French)
She enjoyed having lovers.
She enjoyed the excitement.
For Mata Hari, money was simply freedom.
It allowed her unparalleled access
to experiences of all kinds.
She loved luxury, she
loved beautiful gowns,
she loved beautiful jewels, furs, horses.
So she was broke all the time.
But that was not a problem.
(lively upbeat music)
Mata Hari used money as a resource.
It was something that
symbolized freedom and happiness
and being close to a man in uniform
was something different than money.
It was being close to power.
[Mata Hari] My lovers were
some of the most powerful
and aristocratic men,
yet I did not fall in
love with any of them.
(lively upbeat music continues)
When I was first in
Madrid, I met Jules Cambon,
then the French ambassador to Spain.
Another of my long-time lovers
was Henri de Rothschild.
Alfred Messimy who was Minister of War
was another of my lovers.
Having a relationship with an older man
allowed Mata Hari to play
the young, cherished,
free, feminine that she sought
from her early childhood.
And repeating that scenario
over and over and over again
is very telling about where
her psychic development lie.
(gentle dramatic music)
When Mata Hari was on stage,
she really came alive.
And she had once said about herself
that no one would come to see me
if I didn't take off all my clothes.
And I think that she was really missing
that what they came to see
was that she performed so fully
with every bit of her body.
I see that as her most authentic.
See me completely bare, offer
myself to something higher.
(gentle pensive music)
[Mata Hari] I still had hopes
of being able to have Non with me.
But in 1906, Rudolf wished to
remarry and filed for divorce
on the grounds of immoral
behavior, indecency, and adultery.
His lawyer threatened to show photos
of my nude dancing in court.
I was forced to concede,
and Rudolf was awarded custody of Non.
I did not know when I would be able
to see my daughter again.
She was able to quit her
career to follow a man.
The first time with a German
lieutenant, Albert Kiepert.
He was married to a
beautiful Hungarian lady.
Very rich, in fact the
money was from his wife
which can obviously create a problem.
[Mata Hari] I remained
with my lover, Kiepert,
for three years.
He set me up in Berlin
and kept me sumptuously.
[Catherine] They even
went on a cruise to Egypt.
[Mata Hari] And during this
time, I rarely performed.
Finally, family said stop.
If not, you will get divorced.
[Mata Hari] Kiepert separated from me
and gave me 300,000 marks.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Catherine] The second
time she followed someone
was a French banker named Xavier Rousseau.
Xavier Rousseau was married, too.
Suddenly, she leaves Paris
and she went to the country
to live nearly two years.
[Mata Hari] My lover Rousseau
visited on the weekends.
But I was quite alone during the week.
(gentle wistful music)
[Catherine] She would ride a lot.
She had four beautiful horses.
Mata Hari was the most
clean woman you can imagine.
She had an obsession with hygiene.
She would take long baths.
There was no running water in the chateau,
so you can imagine the servant
with the hot water bucket
twice a day.
[Mata Hari] In 1912,
Rousseau's bad investments
drained my private fortune,
over 200,000 marks.
I separated from him, sold everything
and resumed my life in theater.
I went to Milan and I had
a highly successful two months engagement.
I danced "The Princess
and the Magic Flower,"
at the prestigious La Scala Theater.
(audience applauding)
(lively upbeat music)
My fame restored,
I danced the part of
Venus in Marenco's ballet.
Of course this part suited me perfectly.
The conductor, Tullio Serafin,
affectionately called me
"una creatura adorable."
An adorable creature.
My performance was a triumph,
and I had another charming devotee.
(gentle uplifting music)
Back in France, I kept in the
spotlight with garden parties.
I invited Inayat Khan, the
renowned Indian musician,
to perform with me.
The association with Inayat
Khan enhanced my reputation.
(audience applauding)
(dramatic upbeat music)
The role I truly desired,
was that of Salome.
Salome was the reason
that John the Baptist was decapitated.
She was a very sensual and beautiful woman
just like Mata Hari.
She's appealing but she's also dangerous.
The Salome dance was
going on across Europe
in the early 1900s, it was
not Mata Hari's invention.
(tense dramatic music)
The Salome dance was
very erotic, very risque.
But the Salome craze was possible
because this was a Biblical text
and so they could get away with it.
Mata Hari really wanted to dance the part
of Oscar Wilde's "Salome."
But this part was being performed
by her rival, Maud Allan.
[Mata Hari] I knew I
could dance a more alluring
and authentic Salome than Maud Allan,
who had borrowed
shamelessly from my costume
and style of dance.
Mata Hari longed to dance this part.
She managed to perform it privately
for Prince di San Faustino
at a palace in Rome.
Mata Hari got very naked
during this performance,
and the prince was so pleased
he commissioned a painting of Mata Hari
as a topless, laughing Salome.
(gentle poignant music)
[Mata Hari] In 1912, Rudolf
divorced his second wife,
and I petitioned the Dutch
government for custody of Non.
My request was denied.
Rudolf refused to allow me
to see or even write to Non.
I'm grief-stricken that my daughter
is growing up without me.
(gentle pensive music)
Mata Hari was now over 30.
She had difficulties to
find engagements to dance.
[Mata Hari] I was
turned down by Diaghilev
and the Ballets Russes
because he found my figure too matronly.
To make matters worse,
Eastern dancers had
sprung out of the ground.
The music halls were
crowded with imitators.
[Charles] She was facing
competitors, imitators,
who picked up the idea
and tried to pass themselves
off as the equivalent.
[Mata Hari] Not only did I
have imitators to contend with,
but other artists such as Louie Fuller
and Isadora Duncan who
continue to be popular
with Parisian audiences.
The difference between
Mata Hari and Isadora Duncan?
Isadora Duncan was the
founder of modern dance.
Dance was everything to her.
She had a theory of dance
and her idea was to
spread it to the world.
Mata Hari used her art
form to advance herself.
(gentle upbeat music)
Mata Hari did perform
at the Folies Bergere.
It was a step-down from her
aristocratic circle beginning.
[Mata Hari] In 1913, I
played to sold out audiences
at the Folies Bergere.
I danced a Spanish piece
based on a Goya painting.
I became desperate enough
to perform in a low-class
theater in Sicily
that included a trained dog act.
(gentle pensive music)
I have to confess, my
star was growing dimmer.
(bright cheerful music)
Mata Hari had been a star.
She was riding the wave from 1905 to 1914.
Whatever she did was a success.
And all of a sudden in
1914, all that stopped.
It's not a good year for her.
She has to leave Paris because
she spends so much money.
She never paid one bill.
(tense dramatic music)
[Mata Hari] I was thrilled
to land a six-month engagement
in Berlin, at the Metropol Theater.
Just what I needed to reignite my career.
(gentle pensive music)
We have that curious
testimony of Mata Hari,
a letter she sent to Inayat Khan
two days before the war broke out,
where she tries to get
him to come to Berlin.
And one is left wondering
that even at that period
she was not really aware
that war was on the point of breaking out.
She lived in a world of her own.
She did not really relate
to the outside world
and the real dangers
in that outside world.
(explosions booming)
(tense dramatic music)
World War I breaks out
and the foreigners have to leave Berlin,
including Mata Hari.
It all stops because of the war.
And then she writes down in her scrapbook
"La guerre, theatre ferme."
The theater has been closed. It's war.
She writes it down but doesn't realize
that all things have changed now.
I think that's her fate,
not having this insight
in what's really happening now,
and that her role has been faded out.
After the start of the war,
she found herself in Berlin
with all her bank accounts
and assets frozen,
so she had no money to go back to Holland.
She seduced a Dutch businessman
who paid for her train
ticket back to The Hague.
But she has to find money
because nobody was waiting for her.
(dramatic music)
She takes on a new lover,
Baron van der Capellan,
who supports her.
When she was in The Hague,
someone knocked at the door one evening,
and that someone was the Consul
of Germany, Herr Kroemer.
And Herr Kroemer thought she might be
a good agent for him.
Kroemer asked her to spy for Germany
and offered her money to do so.
Nowadays the equivalent of around $60,000.
The reason why Mata Hari
was so desirable as a spy
is because she already had a network
that was very interesting
for secret services.
As a courtesan, she had
contacts in government circles,
and because of her love
for men in uniform,
she had many friends amongst
high-ranking military officers.
[Yves] Mata Hari accepted,
and Kroemer supplied her
with invisible ink, instructed
her to sign her letters
with the codename H21.
(gentle brooding music)
H21, that was her codename,
was a very amateur spy.
She didn't do it because
she felt loyal to Germany,
she didn't do it because she hated France,
she did it because she needed the money.
And she also did it because she was hoping
that would be an opportunity
to take money from the Germans.
So she thought, "If a German guy
is willing to give me money, why not?"
That's only a way of getting reimbursed
from what the Germans stole from me.
To her, becoming H21 and
working for the Germans
in some faraway future,
she was a bit like Scarlett
in "Gone with the Wind."
We'll see about that tomorrow,
and tomorrow seemed always
to be an eternity ahead.
She had no reason to
consider herself as a spy.
So, as a matter of fact,
we think that she threw the
small bottle of invisible ink
into the channel as soon as she could.
[Mata Hari] Although The
Hague proved to be a safe haven
from the war, it was too quiet.
And Rudolf did not permit me to see Non.
I decided to return to Paris.
Mata Hari returning to Paris
at the height of the Battle of Verdun,
yes, it was distinctly an
unusual decision to make.
But it wasn't a smart thing to do.
(gentle solemn music)
The Paris she was going
to was not the same Paris.
Everybody had been changed by the war.
[Mary] World War I made Paris
a sadder, more silent place.
No people on the streets, no cafes.
No place for pleasure or entertainment.
So many families had lost
sons and fathers and brothers.
France was in mourning.
As a foreign woman,
Mata Hari was viewed with great suspicion.
[Jean-Pierre] She
doesn't seem to realize
that the whole world is ablaze.
She was not an international
dancer anymore, she was a spy.
To the very end she never
realized her life was in danger.
(tense ominous music)
[Mata Hari] When I
arrived back in Paris,
I stayed, as usual, at the Grand Hotel.
I soon noticed
that I was constantly
being followed by two men.
They watched my every move.
[Jean-Pierre] She's under
scrutiny from the very morning
to the end of the evening.
And we have in the
official file of the case
all the details about what Mata Hari does.
She meets friends. She goes to shops.
Except of course it's wartime
and nothing is like before.
Which doesn't prevent her
from spending the money she doesn't have.
(quiet piano music)
If you have a look at the dossier,
all the bills of hat makers, stores,
so on and so forth are there.
And you see she spends literally fortunes.
Apparently the money she had
was the money from her old flame
who was still paying for her
life and her buying sprees.
(gentle upbeat music)
[Mata Hari] I met and fell in love
with Captain Vladimir de Massloff,
a handsome, 21-year-old Russian officer.
He is the only man I have truly loved.
She's madly in love with him,
and that's going to change her life.
And unfortunately, it's not
going to change it for the best.
[Mata Hari] Vladimir
was stationed near Vittel,
and I was desperate to
go and see him again.
Vittel was so close to the front
that I needed a special
stamp to travel there.
(explosions booming)
(gunfire cracking)
I was advised to see
Captain Georges Ladoux,
the head of French intelligence.
(gentle pensive music)
Captain Ladoux received me respectfully.
He remarked that if I loved all of France,
I could render France a great service.
I said I had not thought of it.
He asked me to reflect upon it.
He stamped my paper for Vittel
and asked me to let him know
my decision upon my return.
(gentle wistful music)
Some of the most beautiful days of my life
were spent in Vittel with my dear Vadim.
(gentle romantic music)
They will stay at the Parc Hotel,
which is the best hotel there.
And there they're going to
spend a few days and nights,
not even going out.
Of course the police officers
were following her as usual
and they scrupulously
write down a timetable.
She's in bed all day with Massloff,
and this is the apex of her life.
There's no reason to doubt
that she was really deeply in love.
(cannon booms)
(tense dramatic music)
[Mata Hari] I learned that Vadim
had been gravely injured
by asphyxiating gas
and was in danger of going blind.
I began to reflect.
I must ask Captain Ladoux for enough money
that I never have to deceive
Vadim with other men.
I will do what the captain asks.
Captain Ladoux will pay
me, I will marry my lover,
and I will be the happiest woman on Earth.
Mata Hari's attraction to espionage
was probably like a game.
Her life was already so fictional
that this was just one more
chapter in her fictional book.
(gentle somber music)
Seeing that Massloff is not
as much in love with Mata Hari
as she is with him, does not imply
that he doesn't have any feelings for her.
For Vladimir, it was the power flip
where she wasn't so concerned
with what he could do for her
but with the giving of herself.
(gentle pensive music)
[Mata Hari] Upon my return from Vittel,
I went to see Ladoux.
I told him that I would accept
his offer to spy for France.
I asked for a million francs.
He was taken aback by the
sum, but agreed to pay
if I truly rendered the
service he requested.
It was agreed
that she would travel to the Netherlands
to get more information
and more instructions.
It's questionable whether Ladoux
really wanted Mata Hari
to become a real spy.
I would tend to believe
that he's like a big cat
playing with a small mouse.
[Mata Hari] On Captain Ladoux's orders,
I began my journey.
I boarded a boat from Spain
bound for the Netherlands,
and from there I could travel to Belgium.
When our boat docked at the
English port of Falmouth,
I was rudely awakened.
The British counter-intelligence officer
mistakes her for a well-known female spy,
called Clara Benedix.
But when the British tell her,
"You are the famous Clara
Benedix spy, aren't you?"
She burst out laughing and
she says, "No, I'm not.
Have a look at the
photo you're showing me.
She's much fatter than I am."
[Mata Hari] The officer
took from his pocket
an amateur photograph of a
woman dressed in Spanish style.
My protestations did not convince him.
My cabin was searched with
unheard of thoroughness.
They were unfastening the
paintings from the walls
and looking under my bed
with an electric lamp.
(tense suspenseful music)
I was subjected to a personal search.
The officer made me disembark
and took me to London with my baggage.
After Mata Hari was
arrested, taken off the boat,
and onto the train to London,
she charmed her escorting agents so much,
that they allowed her
to first go to a hotel
and change her clothes
before going to interrogation
at Scotland Yard.
She's interrogated by number one
British counterintelligence
network, Basil Thomson.
Well, he knows that
she's not Clara Benedix.
And I don't think he ever
believes she's a professional spy.
[Mata Hari] I was quite upset
as I was detained four days
and interrogated intensely.
Being confronted with
Basil Thomson, she says,
"Incidentally, I'm on your side, you know,
I'm working for you."
[Mata Hari] Finally I said,
"I have something to tell
you that will surprise you.
Captain Ladoux asked me
to go into his service
and I promised to do something for him.
He told me to go to Holland
and await his instructions."
Which of course no real spy
would ever say even to allies.
And she says, "You can ask him, you know.
If you send a cable to
Paris he will confirm
that I am actually a French agent
undercover working for him."
Thomson sends a cable to the
Ministry of the War in Paris
and gets a rather embarrassed
and confused answer from Ladoux.
Ladoux said, "No, I didn't hire her."
But he asked them to let her
go and send her to Spain,
and that's what they did.
So she was placed back on a ship to Spain.
Ladoux set a trap for Mata Hari.
He betrayed her, whereas she thought
that they had an agreement.
And so she goes back to Spain.
With that episode goes her
dream of going to Belgium
and spying for the French.
Being a resourceful
woman, she finds a plan B,
and that is simply, "Since I'm in Spain,
why not make the best of it?"
[Marijke] She has contact
with the German head of
intelligence, Mr. Von Kalle.
She says Kalle was no
difficult prey at all.
I did what a woman would
do under such circumstances
to seduce him, and it worked.
The more intimate he gets with
her, the more he is doubting.
- He betrays her.
- (tense ominous music)
He writes telegrams in code
that he knew the French
had already deciphered,
so the French could read those telegrams.
Kalle says to the Germans,
"I've been in touch with our agent H21."
Mata Hari was obviously the
person Kalle was talking about.
When he gives her three secrets,
he makes sure that those
secrets are not fresh secrets.
And of course, she decides
to go back to France
and speak with Ladoux face-to-face.
[Mata Hari] I returned to Paris
with information for Ladoux.
I went to his office several
times and sent him messages.
But he refused to see me.
She's, one might say,
unbalanced by what's happening.
She doesn't understand.
She catches a coach
that takes her far away
to the suburbs of Paris.
(street sounds)
And if you go through the
secret files of the War Council,
you know exactly what she did there
because the police went to
that place after she'd left
and had a word with the
person who was living there,
a lady who called herself a medium.
(tense foreboding music)
The medium tells her, "I see two things.
You're not going to get your million.
And the second thing I see
is your end is very near."
(tense foreboding music swells)
From then on things go
from bad to worse for her.
In France, justice is represented
as a beautiful woman, blindfolded.
It means that she must be blind
to what's happening around the case,
she's supposed to decide on.
And in Mata Hari's case,
one can say that justice
was not blindfolded.
(tense brooding music)
[Mata Hari] I was arrested
by the French police.
I was taken to Monsieur Bouchardon
who informed me that I was
named as German Agent H21.
Once you are accused of being a spy,
it was very difficult.
Your fate was sealed.
[Mata Hari] I am accused
of attempted espionage,
of passing intelligence to the enemy,
and of receiving payment from the Germans.
I deny all allegations. I am innocent.
French counterespionage
is playing with me.
I have only acted on instructions.
In the year of her arrest,
things are not going
very well for the allies.
[Jean-Pierre] People
were dead tired of the war.
Nobody would have thought
that the war would go on
for more than four years.
There were desertions everywhere,
and people were waiting
for blows to be exerted
on what they perceived was the enemy.
The First World War was partly fought
through war propaganda and intelligence.
This also encouraged a sort of paranoia.
Everybody could be a spy.
(tense foreboding music)
Conspiracy theories are developed
to explain why they are not
able to defeat the Germans.
And one of these conspiracy theories
is that Germans have
lots of femmes fatales
who are actually sent to allied officers
to seduce them to squeeze
information out of them.
Public opinion needed a scapegoat.
She fits the picture perfectly.
(tense dramatic music)
[Jean-Pierre] Bouchardon was probably
Mata Hari's worst enemy.
Mata Hari represents what
he hates most in the world.
She was pretty, she was promiscuous,
and he had this puritanical nature
that made her look like the
incarnation of the devil.
Mata Hari was a threatening figure.
Her boldness, her sexuality,
the way that she lived her life
was definitely in an untraditional way
that a woman would live her life.
Mata Hari was a very
convenient propaganda piece.
Bouchardon knew exactly
that they had the prey they needed.
Can you imagine that woman
who'd been the Queen of Paris,
she was thrown into the worst
prison in Paris at the time,
the infamous prison Saint-Lazare.
Damp, rats, insects, fleas.
(gentle somber music)
Minimum comfort if you
can call a wooden bed
and a wooden chair and a bucket
for what you imagine, comfort.
And she would spend months there.
Mata Hari is pleading her cause
in an endless series of
letters to Bouchardon.
[Mata Hari] For three months
I am imprisoned in this cell.
Morally and physically,
you have done me such harm
that I beg you to end it.
I cannot support any longer the filth,
the lack of care for my body,
and the disgusting food.
Nearly every day she writes to him.
Please lieutenant, sell my jewels,
what is left of my jewels.
Get the money to enable
me to buy a piece of soap.
Please let me have a
bath, I can't stand it.
(gentle melancholic music)
Every letter she wrote to
Bouchardon to ask for money
to be able to buy extra food
or to buy soap was rejected.
[Mata Hari] I beg you to permit me
to let Captain de Massloff
know what has happened to me.
He could think I have left Paris
without saying anything to him.
He does not deserve to
suffer because of me.
[Vladimir] My darling,
I am completely astonished
by your silence.
I wait every day for your response.
Each day I do not hear from
you feels like an eternity.
Upon receipt of this, please telegraph me.
Fortunately for Mata Hari,
she had an old friend, Edouard Clunet,
who was a star amongst
barristers at the time.
He very heartily tried to defend her.
But Bouchardon, as well
as his fellow, Mornet,
who was going to present
the case to the court
when she would be judged,
Bouchardon and Mornet did
absolutely everything they could
to hinder his work.
Edouard Clunet was never
allowed to be present
when she was interrogated.
During the investigation into Mata Hari,
Bouchardon was suddenly given
some telegrams by Ladoux.
The authenticity of these
telegrams is questionable.
What is important is that
these telegrams were key
into convicting Mata Hari.
Ladoux never told Bouchardon
that the telegrams were written
in the old code that the Germans knew
the French could decipher.
The telegrams were sent
by the German military
attache in Madrid, Kalle.
They referred to Agent H21,
and informed Berlin that she has arrived
and pretended to spy for the French.
Bouchardon, with telegrams in hand,
now zeroed in for the attack.
And he shows her all the cables.
"Now stop pretending you're innocent.
I have here strong evidence
against you. You are guilty.
Incidentally, you were hoping
that Massloff would come
and testify for you,
but your love Massloff
is going away and he's going to be married
to a Russian girl."
And this of course is devastating.
He sends her back to prison
where he leaves her for a few weeks,
hoping she's going to break down.
And this is what's going to happen.
[Mata Hari] I cannot stand this life.
I would rather hang myself from the bars
than to live like this.
(tense ominous music)
I fear I will never see my Non again.
During her interrogation by Bouchardon,
Mata Hari made one fatal mistake.
What she confessed to Bouchardon
was that she was visited by Kroemer
and that he asked her to spy for Germany.
And he offered her money.
(gentle brooding music)
[Mata Hari] I never intended
to spy for the Germans,
and I never did.
I accepted the money
because the Germans owed me
for the valuable belongings
which they seized from me.
So she says, "Okay, I
did work for the Germans.
Okay, I did receive the H21 madrigal,
but I never really worked for the Germans.
On the contrary, I worked for Ladoux."
Well, Ladoux never answered
and never came to testify in her favor.
So she's trapped.
(tense foreboding music)
(door thuds)
(latch clicks)
She was judged and condemned
by military justice.
The military justice was
extremely fast and expedient.
The case itself was judged
in one day and a half.
[Mata Hari] Of all
my influential lovers,
only two had the courage
to come to my defense.
Jules Cambon testified
that I had never asked him
about military or domestic affairs.
Henri de Marguerie, admonished
Prosecutor Mornet by saying,
"You well know she is not a spy.
Nothing has ever spoiled my
good opinion of this lady."
His kind words afforded
me some small comfort.
My lover Vadim did not testify.
I was relieved because I
could not bear to see him
under these circumstances.
The law says whoever's
been in touch with the enemy,
who's been passing
intelligence to the enemy
is a spy and should be shot.
She'd been in touch with the Germans.
She'd passed information,
even if it was absolutely worthless.
The prosecutor ended the
trial with the statement
that Mata Hari was perhaps
the greatest spy ever.
The reality is that she
wasn't a very good spy.
She was a terrible spy.
It only took them 45 minutes
to come up with a verdict.
(bells ringing)
Guilty, which meant that she was
going to have to face the firing squad.
And she was taken back to
prison to await her death.
(tense foreboding music)
This is the part where she
becomes the myth she is today.
People, very often are not
equal to themselves in death.
She was more than equal.
(voices singing mournfully)
Every day, every night, she
was waiting for the footsteps
of the people coming to fetch her,
to take her to the place where
she was going to be shot.
(tense foreboding music continues)
[Mata Hari] Death is nothing,
neither is life. Dying-
"Sleeping, dreaming, passing away.
It's all part of one process
of either being or not being
in whichever way one
seeks to interpret it."
That's very striking indeed, I should say.
And deeply touching, of course.
(gentle brooding music)
By all accounts, Mata
Hari faced her death
with great bravery and grace.
Her life was a stage and
this was the last curtain call.
[Mata Hari] Do not
cry. Be cheerful like me.
Imagine that I'm going on a long journey.
That I will return and we
will find each other again.
There is an element of
still living in the fantasy
and the illusion of Mata Hari.
She didn't really come back
down to Margaretha Zelle,
even in her final moments.
Her execution was her final performance.
There were nearly 200 people
witnessing the execution.
It was like the cinema or the theater.
(gentle foreboding music)
She stood very erect.
She refused to be blindfolded.
She blew a kiss to the priest,
blew a kiss to her lawyer.
- [Soldier] Fire!
- (gunfire cracking)
(pistol booms)
(soldier speaking French)
(soft pensive music)
The sergeant major even said,
"By God, this lady
really knows how to die."
She died the character that she created.
At that moment, she
became the worldwide myth
and star she is today.
(siren wailing)
The next day, newspapers were
commenting upon the execution.
Many journalists had been so impressed
that they wrote articles in praise of her.
And the military censorship
had to censor the newspapers.
She was a 20th century woman
who was killed by the
last 19th century men.
Mata Hari has definitely
reached mythological status.
[Marijke] She became a
Hollywood and film icon,
because she has been depicted
for a hundred years now.
Every author makes his own Mata Hari.
[Shauna] She was a
powerful, feminine figure
who did things her own way.
She was already a free woman,
she was already fighting for values
which are our values
today, being equal to men,
being free to organize her life.
And Mata Hari was an enigma.
She had the projection for anybody.
So whatever the culture wants
to see in her, it's there.
She's a Madonna, she's
a whore, she's a spy,
she's a stripper, she's a
dancer, performance artist.
She's got something for everybody.
[Marijke] Mata Hari's
lasting legacy is the idea
that you are not bound to the
life that you are born into.
You can choose your own biography.
You can chase after your dream.
You can become whatever you want.
She is the ultimate self-made woman.
(gentle inspirational music)
(soft pensive music)
[Mata Hari] Death is
nothing. Neither is life.
All is illusion.
(gentle poignant music)
(gentle poignant music continues)
(gentle upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music)
(lively upbeat music continues)