Mater dolorosa

In France ,Gance's remake of "Mater Dolorosa" (1932) is dismissed as "awful cheesy melodrama" .

The silent version (nobody seems to have seen the complete version :it is not sure it is still available) has a remaining running time of about 55 minutes.It is sometimes difficult to catch up with the plot.It seems that parts are essentially missing in the first half: the wife's "illegal" love is only skimmed over and her lover's suicide does not make much sense.

Best scenes: the lovers' argument,looking like a shadow show,the husband in front of his son's bed ,his criminal thoughts.The doctor's consultation is also a good moment,recalling the Lumiere bros shorts.

One of Abel Gance's little acorns which led to the great oak that is NAPOLEON, his masterpiece.

A doctor's wife has an affair with her husband's best friend, who shoots himself after she refuses to run away with him. The erstwhile suitor swears his lover to secrecy concerning the affair before he dies, in order to spare the doctor's feelings. However, the doctor learns of the ill-fated trysts by accident, and demands to know the name of her former beau. His wife refuses to break her vow to her lover.....and suffers the consequences....

A standard melodrama, heightened by atmospheric lighting at certain points. Interesting primarily because of the subsequent fame of the director.

IMDB gives a running time of 80 mins, but my Grapevine Video VCD copy (playable on most DVD machines) only amounts to 54 mins. Perhaps a less truncated copy with English inter-titles is out there somewhere.

This is a very serious movie which is driven by the heroine's overdeveloped sense of honor. A moment's candid conversation with her husband would have cleared up the situation instantly, but no - she has to put her marriage in jeopardy by trying to keep an ill-considered promise. There is no sense of fun in this movie, and the fact that no modern person would act as the heroine does keeps the viewer from sympathizing with her. There is one scene late in the movie which is an exception, and for me it points the way to Abel Gance's future greatness. How can I put this without giving anything away? It is the "Where are we going?" scene. If you regard the bulk of the movie as nothing more than a lead-up to that scene it is a successful exercise, but if you are looking for light entertainment, look elsewhere.