Princesse Masha (1927) Review - Lots of Fur and Drama

If you have a couple of hours and a high tolerance for people looking very sad in expensive outfits, you should probably check out Princesse Masha. It is one of those movies that feels like it was recovered from a dusty basement, which I think is actually part of the charm.

It’s definitely for the crowd that enjoys silent cinema history or maybe just people who like seeing how the French thought the Russian Revolution looked. If you need explosions or fast talking, you will absolutely hate this and probably fall asleep by the second reel.

I sat down with this one on a Tuesday night when I couldn't sleep. The first thing that hits you is Andrée Brabant, who plays Masha; she has these eyes that are so wide they look like they might fall out of her head during the more dramatic scenes. 👁️

The plot is your standard 'rich person loses everything' story. Masha is a princess, things go bad in Russia, and suddenly she is dealing with soldiers and exile and all that heavy stuff.

There is a scene early on where a soldier enters a room and just stands there for what feels like five minutes. He’s just looking at the furniture, I think? It’s meant to be tense, but I mostly just wondered if he was checking for dust.

The way the film handles the revolution is... interesting. It’s very much a movie made by people who were terrified of what was happening in the East at the time.

It reminds me a bit of Ahasver, 1. Teil in terms of how grand everything tries to be. Even when characters are supposed to be struggling, their hair looks perfect. 💄

I noticed this one extra in a crowd scene who was wearing a hat that was definitely too big for him. He keeps adjusting it while the main characters are having a very serious moment in the foreground. It’s distracting once you see it, but it made me laugh.

The cinematography—or cinemotagraphy, if I can't spell today—is actually pretty decent for 1927. Some of the shadows in the palace scenes are really moody and dark.

Jean Toulout shows up too, and he’s got that classic silent movie villain vibe where you just know he’s up to no good the second he breathes. He does this thing with his eyebrows that is just too much.

The pacing is a bit of a slog in the middle. They spend a lot of time on letters. So many letters! ✉️

People in silent movies love reading letters slowly while the camera watches their faces change from 'happy' to 'ruined' in about sixty seconds. It’s a bit like The Adopted Son where the family drama just keeps piling up until you want to scream.

I did love the costumes, though. The fur coats look so heavy you wonder how the actresses could even walk across the set without tipping over.

There is this one moment where Masha looks at a portrait of her family, and the lighting changes just slightly to show her memories. It was actually kind of sweet and felt more modern than the rest of the movie.

Some of the intertitles are a bit dramatic. One of them said something about "the soul being crushed by the wheels of fate," which is a bit much for a Wednesday afternoon.

If you've seen Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation, you know how these nationalistic dramas can get. This one is a bit more personal, but it still feels like it’s trying to teach you a lesson you didn't ask for.

The ending is... well, it’s a silent movie ending. Don't expect a happy dance and a pop song. It’s more of a lingering stare into the distance kind of vibe. 🌊

I think the film gets better if you stop trying to follow every political twist and just look at the faces. The acting is so physical, almost like a ballet but with more crying.

It’s definitely a step up from something like Smile Please, which is obviously a totally different genre, but you get what I mean about the effort involved. You can tell they spent money on this.

Is it a masterpiece? Probably not. But it’s a real movie with real feelings, even if those feelings are a bit dusty now.

Anyway, if you like history and don't mind reading your dialogue, give it a go. Just maybe have some coffee ready for the slow parts in the second act. ☕