Être ou ne pas être

A labyrinthine excursion into the existential malaise of the early 1920s, René Leprince’s 'Être ou ne pas être' transcends the mere theatricality of its Shakespearean title to deliver a haunting meditation on identity and social obligation. The narrative unfurls around a protagonist caught in the crushing gears of destiny, portrayed with a brooding intensity by Léon Mathot. As the plot weaves through the smoke-filled salons and the austere corridors of moral reckoning, the film utilizes a sophisticated visual vocabulary—shadow-drenched mise-en-scène and lingering close-ups—to externalize the internal fracture of its characters. Régine Dumien and Pierre Denols provide a counterpoint of fragile hope and cynical pragmatism, respectively, while the screenplay navigates the treacherous waters between Victorian melodrama and the burgeoning psychological realism of the French avant-garde. It is a work where the silence speaks louder than any soliloquy, demanding the viewer confront the fragility of their own existence amidst the flickering grain of celluloid.