Portrait of an Assassin (French: Portrait d'un assassin) is a 1949 French drama thriller film directed by Bernard-Roland and starring Maria Montez, Erich von Stroheim, Arletty and Pierre Brasseur.
[2] Christina (Montez) is the sadistic manager of a circus show, who uses her attractiveness to seduce men and force them to do dangerous acrobatic acts.
Christina seduces Fabius (Brasseur) but his wife Martha (Arletty), turns up and performs the acrobatic act and dies.
[3] It was originally announced that the film would be called Portrait of a Murderer and would star Maria Montez and Orson Welles.
[5][6] Reportedly Montez and Arletty feuded during filming causing retakes to be required.