Jeanne Vaubernier, a seemingly innocent shopgirl, uses her feminine wiles to sleep her way into the court of Louis XV of France. She becomes the king's consort, and is dubbed Madame du Barry. Her true goal is to free her lover, Armand de Foix, from prison. After entreating Louis XV, she has Armand installed as a royal guard at the palace. Armand cannot bear such servitude, however, and conspires with his fellows against the monarchy. Soon the masses are incited to revolt, dragging the king and his mistress before a tribunal over which Armand presides. Madame du Barry has been betrayed by the one she loved above all others...

Passion was originally a German Ufa production, premiering September 18, 1919 as Madame DuBarry in Berlin. It was the second collaboration between Ernst Lubitsch and Pola Negri, the previous being Carmen (1918; eventually released in America as Gypsy Blood). Madame DuBarry was such a success overseas that it convinced America to end the WWI-era embargo on German films. First National released it as Passion in 1920 (the studio found the original title too "foreign.") Afterwards both Negri and Lubitsch emigrated to America. The actress had great success in films such as Forbidden Paradise (1924) and Hotel Imperial (1927) but her performances were sometimes obscured by headlines linking her romantically with high-profile paramours including Chaplin and Valentino. She returned to Germany in 1928. Lubitsch, however, was here to stay, and after establishing himself directing Mary Pickford in Rosita (1923), he embarked on a long American career that encompassed some of the greatest films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. These included Trouble in Paradise (1932), Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), To Be or Not to Be (1942), and Heaven Can Wait (1943). The brilliant Emil Jannings, star of such German Expressionist classics as The Last Laugh (1924), Faust (1926) and The Blue Angel (1930), appears as Louis XV.