Film Review
Not to be outdone by Pathé's blockbuster
La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ
(1903), Gaumont attempted an even grander account of the life and death
of Christ just a few years later. This film,
La Vie du Christ (a.k.a.
La Naissance, la vie et la mort du Christ),
was to be the crowning achievement of Gaumont's most important
filmmaker at the time, Alice Guy, who has the distinction of being not
only the first woman film director, but also the first woman
producer. Guy's output was phenomenal, as was the quality of her
work. Starting out at the age of 22, she made over 300 films for
Gaumont and deserves to be considered one of the great pioneers of
early cinema, no less important than Louis Lumière, Georges
Meliès and Louis Feuillade. Sadly, much of Guy's work
(which consists entirely of short films) no longer exists, but what
does remain reveals a creative individual of extraordinary ability and
a natural flair for the nascent medium of cinema.
Comparing Gaumont's
La Vie du Christ
with Pathé's
La Vie et la
passion de Jésus Christ (directed by Lucien Nonguet and
Ferdinand Zecca), made just three years earlier, you can hardly help
noticing how much cinema has progressed in such a short period.
Nonguet and Zecca's film was an important cinematic milestone for its
time but it already appeared dated by 1906. By comparison, Guy's
film has a grandeur, scale and realism which makes it an altogether
more impressive piece of cinematic art. Whereas Pathé's
film was confined to the studio and used stylised sets, Gaumont's
employs real locations for the exteriors (the timeless Forest of
Fontainebleau) and elaborate, authentic-looking sets for the
interiors. The latter were lovingly crafted by Henri
Ménessier, who later worked as an artistic designer on Rex
Ingram's
The Magician (1926)
and Sacha Guitry's
Le Roman d'un tricheur (1936).
Comprising 25 tableaux, each depicting a scene in the life of Christ,
and with a cast of hundreds filling the lavish sets,
La Vie du Christ has an epic feel
and solidity that makes Pathé's
film look almost like a work of
quaint
bricolage.
Christ's life as a preacher is truncated to a few brief episodes, with
most of the film dedicated to his arrest, trial and execution. It
is in the latter scenes that the film is most effective - Guy compels
us to identify with Christ as he is tortured and humiliated amidst the
jeering masses. Saint Veronica, a figure overlooked in most
screen accounts of the life of Christ, assumes a special importance as
she is the one person - notably a woman - who offers succour to the
martyred prophet.
As was the convention at the time, most of the film consists of long,
static takes, but there is one sequence where Guy uses a tracking shot
effectively, following the cross-burdened Christ and his procession up
the hill of Calvary. The mise-en-scène and performances
appear theatrical by today's standards but far less so than was typical
for the time the film was made. There is a primitive naturalistic
quality to this film which gives it a feeling of immediacy and
compassion, quite different to the more traditional, devotional feel of
Pathé's film. Guy appears to be more concerned with the
humanity of Christ than his divinity, and as a consequence her film
stands out as one of cinema's more compassionate and involving accounts
of the life of Christ.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Starting with the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem, the
life and death of Christ are presented in a series of tableaux
representing scenes taken from the New Testament. Betrayed by his
disciple Judas, Christ is condemned by Pilate and executed by
crucifixion, before rising from the dead and ascending into
Heaven.
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.