Le double amour

A relatively classic melodrama, LE DOUBLE AMOUR was Jean Epstein’s third film for the Albatros production company, made between February and April of 1925. Like for L’AFFICHE (1924), Marie Epstein wrote the screenplay, which gave full expressive power to Nathalie Lissenko, star of Montreuil’s Russian studio. She plays the part of the Countess Maresco, simultaneously a mother and a dejected woman, a wonderfully tragic aristocratic figure to whom Camille Bardou, Pierre Batcheff and Jean Angelo gravitate, each in harmony with her collapses and laments. LE DOUBLE AMOUR is a film about a world of false appearances, gambling, baccarat and elegance. The dresses and suits were supplied by Drecoll and Paul Poiret. The photography is precise, and the lighting of the exteriors (almost all shot in Cannes) and the editing effects seem to foreshadow the filmmaker’s future poetic works, like the recurring shot of waves breaking against the rocks, an image around which the story is structured. To quote Langlois: “Just screen a reel of COEUR FIDÈLE (1923) and a reel of LE DOUBLE AMOUR to see Epstein’s progress”. (Emilie Cauquy)

With live music by Elaine Brennan on 21.10. und 24.11.

All retrospective films that will be shown at the Filmmuseum after the Viennale - from 29.10. - can of course also be reserved as usual at filmmuseum.at or by calling 01/533 70 54 and purchased at the box office of the Austrian Film Museum. The prices of the Austrian Film Museum apply.