Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of Rose-France: Cult Guide

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Le carnaval des vérités perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Sibilla is a single mother, working as a gypsy dancer in a lousy cafe in the south of Spain. Unable to keep with the costs of his son's medical bills, she asks for help to Estiria, her son's biological father and one of the richest men in town. After being rejected, Sibilla vows to save her son's life by any means necessary - even at the cost of her own life.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

In this symbolist drama of truth and falsehood, a countess and her lover try to seduce and blackmail a rich man living near them who is fond of a naïve young friend of theirs. The plot does not go as well as planned.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Don Juan et Faust perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Late Mathias Pascal perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Mathias Pascal, only son of a once rich family, marries beautiful Romilde, who has a terrible mother-in-law. She controls her daughter, and soon his home life becomes a nightmare, as well as his job as assistant librarian in his home town. His only moments of lights are his mother and his baby, but both die on the same day. Shocked he leaves his hometown and gets to Monte Carlo, where he wins a fortune at the Casino. Returning home, he reads his own obituary in a paper. They have found a corpse in a creek and connected it with his disappearance. Mathias, noticing that he now is free from all ties to his old live, decides to start a new one, and goes to Rome, where he rents a room in a pension full of fake spiritualists who are controlling the owner. The chief of the gang, Terence, wants to marry the owner's daughter Adrienne, and has convinced her father to give her to him, with no regards of Adrienne's feelings, who is in love with and loved by Mathias. When Terence steals Mathias 50,000 Lira, and Mathias, being officially dead can neither marry Adrienne nor denounce Terence to the police, he decides to do something about his state and travels home, just to notice that Romalinda has remarried.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

Claire Lescot is a famous first lady. All men want to be loved by her and among them is the young scientist Einar Norsen. When she mocks at him, he leaves her house with the declared intention to kill himself.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of L'inhumaine perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

In Petrograd, at the beginning of the revolution, General Svirsky shot his wife's lover, Dimitrieff. Emigrating to Nice, Natacha Svirsky meets Henri de Cassel, a living portrait of the deceased. Full of fear, she becomes his mistress.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

From a Futurist play the director had staged, this update of Greek tragedy features a modern banker chained to his desk as punishment for having stolen gold.

Dir: Marcel L'Herbier

Ludivine Bucaille stupidly wishes that Leherg and his son Delphin both die at sea. Amazingly, Leherg actually is lost at sea but his son somehow survives. His mother subsequently dies of sorrow. Remorseful, Ludivine gets her parents to take Delphin in their care. She makes sure the house is nice and tidy. Delphin and Ludivine grow to love each other and eventually get engaged. But father Bucaille, a drunk, wants Ludivine to marry Lauderin, the owner of a bar. Ludivine, in a moment of jealousy, thinking that Delphin has cheated on her, accepts. As Delpin plans on leaving the country the day after the engagement, Ludivine takes a boat to meet him. Lauderin sneaks into the boat and, as a storm hits it, he attempts to rape her. Delphin comes to the rescue. The two lovers can now unite.