Described by Siegfried Kracauer as one of the outstanding film directors of the post-World War I era, Paul Leni (1885-1929) is a significant yet overlooked figure in the German and US cinemas of the silent period. A frequent collaborator with stage director Max Reinhardt, Leni worked as an art designer for some of the most prominent German directors of the time before coming into his own as a director. Creating both avant-garde and commercial films in Germany, Leni quickly became known for his captivatingly macabre productions. Critics and audiences alike praised these films, which were marked by elaborate set designs, innovative use of light and shadow, and adept storytelling abilities.

In many ways, consent is considered a prerequisite to ethical interactions. A nonconsensual act is viewed as an affront, a violation, an oppression. As David Archard in Sexual Consent notes, the distinction between sexual consent and nonconsent marks “the difference between the permissibility and impermissibility of some practice or activity.”

Yet the notion of consent resists both simplistic definition and straightforward interpretation. “Consent is a contractual notion,” Michel Foucault states in an interview in Politics, Philosophy, Culture, and, thus, he purposefully pinpoints a core problem with consent: individuals in everyday interactions regularly obtain and give consent without explicit written or verbal contracts.