La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1926) – Frank Cadogan Cowper

Une belle dame sans merci is a merciless and beautiful lady, a femme fatale.

Keats’s poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci (French: “the beautiful lady without pity”) is recited by the protagonist of Susanna Moore’s In the Cut. I love films and books which heavily refer to literature. Examples include Borges and Erica Jong in Fear of Flying. There is a website dedicated to poetry in the movies.

Part of Lou Reed’s lyrics of Femme Fatale recorded by The Velvet Underground in 1966:

Here she comes,
You’d better watch your step,
She’s going to break your heart in two,
It’s true.

It is reported that Lou Reed wrote the 1966 song about “Warhol superstar” Edie Sedgwick at the request of Andy Warhol. Here is CIAO! MANHATTAN lost footage Of Edie Sedgwick.