Summary
In the soot-choked labyrinth of 1918 Paris, Flora Nys ekes out a precarious existence as a flower girl, her beauty a stark contrast to the penury that shadows her every step. When the predatory landlord Le Baron attempts to leverage her overdue rent for carnal concessions, Flora’s indignation triggers a cycle of spiteful ruin; the landlord tramples her fragile inventory, pushing her toward a desperate act of larceny in a department store. Haunted by a nascent conscience, she discards a stolen fur, only for the vengeful Le Baron to retrieve it and track her to the festive sanctuary of Paul Bernard, a celebrated actor known for his philanthropic yuletide galas. Bernard, recognizing a kindred spark beneath her tattered exterior, redeems her transgressions and elevates her to the theatrical firmament, where she blossoms into a premier danseuse. However, the siren call of the sybaritic high-life, personified by the wealthy Gray Stanton and fueled by Le Baron’s lingering malice, threatens her domestic stability. A fraudulent tale of Stanton’s injury lures Flora away on a crucial opening night, a desertion that plunges her husband into a cataclysmic 'brain fever.' The narrative culminates in a poignant psychological gambit: to mend Bernard’s shattered psyche and fractured memory, Flora must shed her silken finery and return to the humble garments of her origins, staging a domestic tableau that mirrors their first encounter beneath the glow of a Christmas fire.
Synopsis
Flora Nys, a poor flower girl of Paris faces hard times. Her rent overdue, Le Baron, the landlord, oppresses her and puts before her a shady proposition. Indignantly she orders him out of her room. When she takes up her flowers, preparatory to going forth to sell them, she discovers that Le Baron has trampled on them. Tempted by her poverty she steals a fur in a department store. Le Baron sees her and follows her into the street where the girl, conscience-stricken, throws it away. Le Baron picks it up and follows her to the home of Paul Bernard, an actor, who every year gives a Christmas party to certain poor children of Paris. Bernard redeems the fur and, attracted by Flora's loveliness, asks her to become his wife. In time, Flora becomes an expert dancer and leading woman at Bernard's theatre. Gray Stanton, a wealthy rounder, attracts Flora. He endeavors to entice her away from her husband in which task he is assisted by Le Baron, who harbors revenge. On the night of the opening of a new production, Flora deserts the theatre, influenced by a trumped up story regarding Stanton's injury. She discovers the lie and returns to Paris to discover that her husband is suffering from an attack of brain fever occasioned by her flight. She devotes her time in efforts to bring back his memory and finally when another Christmas rolls around she dons her old clothes and sits before the open fire place as she did when Bernard first met her. This has the desired effect. Bernard's memory is restored and he readily forgives the past when he learns the unhappy story of Stanton from his wife's own lips.
Motion Picture News, December 14, 1918
Review Excerpt
"
The year 1918 stood as a precipice in cinematic history, a moment where the visceral grit of the Victorian era began to dissolve into the avant-garde experimentation of the Roaring Twenties. Within this transformative vacuum emerged Infatuation, a film that serves as both a swan song for the legendary Gaby Deslys and a fascinating blueprint for the psychological dramas that would soon dominate European screens. To watch this film today is to witness the intersection of music-hall celebrity and..."
