La Dixième Symphonie (The Tenth Symphony). 1918. France. Written and directed by Abel Gance. With Séverin-Mars, Jean Toulout, Emmy Lynn. Digital restoration by La Cinemathèque Française. 94 min.
This 1918 feature by Abel Gance was made right before his international breakthrough with J’accuse and remains overshadowed by his epic accomplishments of the 1920s, La Roue (1923) and Napoleon (1927), though most of the elements of his mature style are present, from the extravagant stylistic experimentation (including an anticipation of the widescreen framing of Napoleon) to the unbridled grandiosity shared by protagonist and filmmaker. Séverin-Mars, the agonized engineer of La Roue, here plays a celebrated composer who is driven to write his masterpiece—on the theme of “Women’s Betrayal”—when he comes falsely to believe that his wife has been unfaithful. The true situation is far more bizarre, involving a typically tortured Gance family romance.