Germaine Dulac: Duty, Deviance, and Desire
October
16–23, 2003
Germaine Dulac (1882–1942) was a central
figure in 1920s French avant-garde cinema, and its only woman director.
A filmmaker with
her
own production company who worked in narrative, avant-garde, and
documentary genres, Dulac was also an active feminist, an outspoken
film and theater critic, a cofounder of the French Federation of
Ciné-Clubs, and a prolific writer who wrote some of the
earliest treatises on avant-garde film. This exhibition features
archival
prints of ten films Dulac made between 1919 and 1929, some of which
have never before been screened in the U.S.
Curated by Irina Leimbacher,
Associate Curator, San Francisco Cinematheque,
and organized for MoMA by Jytte Jensen, Associate Curator, Department of Film
and Media. The exhibition is sponsored by the Cultural Services of the French
Embassy in the U.S. Special thanks to the Cinémathèque française;
Nederlands Filmmuseum; Lightcone, Paris; The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley;
Cinematheque Ontario; William Moritz; and Tami Williams.
. 1921.
France. Directed by Dulac. Screenplay by André Legrand.
With André Nox,
Louis Vonelly. A formally audacious feminist melodrama, in which
a young doctor is torn between devotion to her career and the demands
of family life. French intertitles, simultaneous English translation.
92 min.
.
1925. France. Directed and cowritten by Dulac. With Ivan Pétrovich,
Nicolas Koline, Mabel Poulton. Set in London’s theater world,
this big-budget commercial feature explores Dulac’s favorite themes:
the illusions of romantic passion, unhappy marriages, and independent
women. French intertitles, simultaneous English translation.
99 min.
. 1919. France. Directed
by Dulac, Louis Delluc. With Eve Francis, Jean Toulout. Only a
fragment remains of
this film about a woman who, coveted by two men, chooses a third.
8 min.
. 1923.
France. Directed by Dulac. With Germaine Dermoz, Alex Arquillière,
Jean d’Yd. This chronicle of the frustrations and fantasies
of a young housewife is considered to be Dulac’s masterpiece.
38 min.
. 1927.
France. Written and directed by Dulac, inspired by the Charles
Baudelaire poem. With Emma Gynt,
Raymond Dubreuil. This tale of a married woman’s night out
at a cabaret suggests the disillusionment inherent in romantic fantasy.
Opening French text, English translation. 35 min.
Program 81 min.
. 1920.
France. Written and directed by Dulac. With Tania Daleyme, Denise
Lorys, Yolande Hillé. An adulterous love affair is explored
from the perspectives of the beautiful seductress and the betrayed
wife in this recently restored
tinted print. French intertitles, simultaneous English translation.
90 min.
. 1927. France. Directed by Dulac. Screenplay
by Antonin Artaud. With Alexandre
Allin, Gênica Athanasiou, Lucien Bataille. Made during the
period of Dulac’s most intense aesthetic exploration, Seashell,
written by Artaud, is often
considered the first Surrealist film. 39 min.
. 1929. France. Directed by Dulac. 9 min.
. 1929. France. Directed
by
Dulac. 7 min.
. 1929. France. Directed by
Dulac. These abstract shorts embody Dulac’s quest for an integral
non-narrative cinema based on visual rhythms and compositions. 6
min.
Program 61 min.
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