Kean ou Désordre et génie

"Kean" was a French film production which tells the story of Herr Kean, a very important British actor who specialized in Shakespeare's oeuvres. Kean has a lot of admirers; among them a married Countess ( an ordinary subject this, that is to say, aristocrats will flirt on any occasion ) . The production includes a lot of Russian émigrés ; Herr Alexander Volkof directed and Herr Ivan Mosjoukine was the star ( both collaborated closely during those silent years in many films ). Unfortunately, with such bizarre combinations of nationalities and revolutionary intentions, the final result is colourless, dispersed. Star Mosjoukine, one of the most important and famous Russian actors, has a certain tendency to overact, and fails to bring to his character the touch of irony necessary to make believable this British actor's fame and success among the ladies. A more noteworthy performance comes from Dame Nathalie Lissenko who plays the Countess of Keofeld, more realized and with plenty of those shades that make very attractive her character to the audience. She's an idle aristocratic woman ( another ordinary subject among the aristocracy ) who uses Kean for her own purposes. Probably those different and contrasting performances are due to the script, on which the same Mosjoukine also collaborated and is based on a novel of the French writer Herr Alexandre Dumas. The story is not developed and is too focused on the principal but superficially drawn character and gives no chance or in depth study to the gallery of other very important actors in the film. For example, the interesting character of Dame Juliet ( Pauline Po ), a Kean admirer, suddenly disappears from the film leaving her intriguing relationship with Kean unresolved. The most interesting aspect of the film is its cyclic structure; it begins with a theatrical performance of Shakespeare's "Romeo And Juliet", those passionate lovers who will end up badly and the film finishes with another tragedy, this time "Hamlet" by the same English author; fiction and reality are thus intertwined, , harmonizing tragic fiction and tragic reality. Literature and reality end in the same way with the difference that Romeo dies quickly and Kean takes half the film to do so.... A curious and cosmopolitan European film production, "Kean" is one of those arty works, an "oeuvre de qualité", so dear to the heart of Herr Volkoff ( he is the art director of the film ), but the lavish décor is merely a distraction from the emptiness of the movie. And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must recite Schiller verses to his idle German heiresses.

Outstanding is the only word to describe this new Flicker Alley production of Kean. This was the first Ivan \Mosjoukine (or Mozzhukhin, take your pick) film I have seen and his performance was, as they say in Texas, dead-solid-perfect. The supporting cast was also superb, especially Nicolas Koline as Kean's prompter, valet and only trusted friend. The storyline is a little Don Juan and a little Beau Brummel and its hard not to envision John Barrymore in this role as well. The bits of Romeo and Juliette and Hamlet with the French inter-titles are great fun and the staging of those two plays within the film are marvelously costumed in the proper Elizabethan fashion. Mosjoukine handles both roles well. Additionally, the set design and costuming truly evoked the Regency era in Britain. All in all this is one fine silent film. Whether you're a seasoned silent fan or new to the genre this one is well worth a look. Finally, what struck me most about this presentation was the incredible job of restoration and the Robert Israel score. The two blend together so well, one is tempted to conclude that this sharp, crisp print coupled with this music is probably better than the film's original release. Kudos to Flicker Alley, la Cinémathèque française, and all others who had a hand in reviving this wonderful motion picture!

Actor Ivan Mozjoukine plays Thomas Kean, a brilliant stage actor who falls in love with an aristocrat. Although he is a superstar of the acting world, possibly one of the first to ever attain such status, actors at the time were considered to be second class citizens. He is also in debt. There is a funny scene where Kean and his friends escape the creditors through makeup and disguise. However this makes him totally unsuitable for marriage to a woman of high class and when she sees him fraternizing with street performers (nobodys) that he used to work with before advancing to stage acting, the woman pretends she doesn't know him and goes off to marry someone richer. There is a scene in a barroom that could be considered innovative, the editor uses quick cuts and montage to create a sense of frenzied drunkenness and delirium that Kean begins to slip into. At the end Keen is to play Hamlet on stage but sees his former object of affection in the audience...with another man. He is so traumatized that he forgets his lines and delivers another speech that is not scripted. He dies in a hospital for the poor with only his actor friend standing by him. The alternate title of the movie is disorder and genius, and Mozjoukine playing Kean was as though one became the other, Mozjoukine's life in person was much like Keans life in story, right up to the end of it where he himself also died in the poorhouse with his friend (who played Kean's friend I don't remember his name) standing at his side.

It is fitting that Ivan Mosjoukine, the first great male superstar in European film, should get to play the great English theater superstar, Edmund Kean in this adaptation of Dumas's play. This is fiction, based on historic characters, and not an attempt to present a real biography. It's an ecstatic portrayal of an artist trying to keep his balance between a world of social boundaries and moral rules, and the unlimited, revolutionary freedom of his art. Poor Kean tries to live in both worlds at once; he is in love with a titled lady whose social position is too high above his own, and in his work he can give voice to his passions and longings through his performance of Shakespeare. The two finally collide in the middle of a disastrous performance of 'Hamlet', where Kean breaks through ALL the boundaries at the same time - voicing his love, and his hatred of injustice, and even of the limitations of his art. When he breaks the 4th wall and accuses the Prince of Wales, he also breaks the play and ends up broken himself. Mosjoukine is his usual wonderful self in this film. Naturally, in a movie subtitled 'The Madness of Genius', he has some good opportunities to do his famous mad-scene acting, particularly with those brilliant eyes. His manic dancing and drinking in a tavern are wonderfully energetic and driven, and it's only a wonder that all the people around him didn't come away from the scene with scorch marks. Mosjoukine is always a wonderful and vulnerable lover - in the scene where he's told that his boyishly impulsive gesture of sending roses to the woman he loves has been rejected and ridiculed, his reaction is just a marvel of controlled acting. He's feeling anguish, grief, rage and humiliation, and the viewer watches breathlessly as the seconds tick by and he holds them all in balance, so that we can't predict which one is going to win out. Is he going to collapse in tears or explode in rage? It's impossible to know until it happens. Despite the high drama of much of the film, as this is Mosjoukine, comedy is never very far away. There is a scene where he tricks his creditors and manages to elude them, which makes him so happy he actually dances a little jig on screen. His own high spirits are always infectious and leave you smiling and hoping he'll win. The movie even throws in a funny little joke, showing the two main women in the story in their respective bedrooms fantasizing about Kean, just as the women in the audience watching the movie doubtless fantasized about Mosjoukine. This is a fine, exuberant showcase for Mosjoukine's splendid acting talent.