Germaine Dulac
Encyclopedia
Germaine Dulac (17 November 1882 – 20 July 1942) was a French
filmmaker, film theorist
, journalist and critic. She was born in Amiens
and moved to Paris
in early childhood. A few years after her marriage she embarked on a journalistic career in a feminist magazine, and later became interested in film. With the help of her husband and friend she founded a film company and directed a few commercial works before slowly moving into Impressionist
and Surrealist
territory. She is best known today for her Impressionist film, La Souriante Madame Beudet ("The Smiling Madam Beaudet", 1922/23), and her Surrealist experiment, La Coquille et le Clergyman
("The Seashell and the Clergyman", 1928). Her career as filmmaker suffered after the introduction of sound film
and she spent the last decade of her life working on newsreels for Pathé
and Gaumont
.
, France
into an upper middle class family of a career military officer. Since her father's job required the family to frequently move between small garrison towns, Germaine was sent to live with her grandmother in Paris. She soon became interested in art and studied music, painting, and theater. In 1905 she married Louis-Albert Dulac, an agricultural engineer who also came from an upper class family. Four years later she began writing for La Française, a feminist magazine where she eventually became the drama critic.
Dulac became interested in film in 1914 through her friend, actress Stacia Napierkowska
. The two women traveled to Italy together shortly before World War I
; Napierkowska was to act in a Film d'Art film, and Dulac learned the basics of the medium during that trip. Soon after her return to France she decided to start a film company. Dulac and writer Irène Hillel-Erlanger then founded D.H. Films, with financial support provided by Dulac's husband. The company produced several films between 1915 and 20, all directed by Dulac and written by Hillel-Erlanger. These included Les soeurs ennemies (1915/16; Dulac's first film), Vénus Victrix, ou Dans l'ouragan de la vie (1917), Géo, le mystérieux (La vraie richesse, 1916), and others.
Dulac's first major success was Âmes des fous (1918), a serial melodrama written by Dulac herself. The film features an early appearance of actress Ève Francis
, who introduced Dulac to her friend (later husband) Louis Delluc
, filmmaker and critic. A short time later Dulac and Delluc collaborated on La fête espagnole ("Spanish Fiesta", 1920), another film featuring Francis, which was proclaimed one of the decade's most influential films and, allegedly, a major French Impressionist Cinema
work. However, only a few excerpts from the film exist today. Dulac and Delluc went on to collaborate on a number of pictures.
Dulac and her husband divorced in 1920. She continued her career in filmmaking, producing both simple commercial films and complex pre-Surrealist
narratives such as two of her most famous works: La Souriante Madame Beudet ("The Smiling Madam Beaudet", 1922/23) and La Coquille et le Clergyman
("The Seashell and the Clergyman", 1928). Both films were released before the epoch-making Un Chien Andalou
(1929) by Luis Buñuel
and Salvador Dalí
, and La Coquille et le Clergyman is sometimes credited as the first Surrealist film; however, some scholars, such as Ephraim Katz
, consider Dulac first and foremost an Impressionist filmmaker. Dulac's goal of "pure cinema" and some of her works inspired the French Cinema pur
film movement. Her other important experimental films include several shorts based on music: Disque(s) 957 (1928/29; based on Chopin) and Thème et variations (1928/29; classical music
), and others from the same period.
With the advent of sound film
, Dulac's career started its decline. From about 1930 she returned to commercial work, producing newsreel
s for Pathé
and later for Gaumont
. She died in Paris
on 20 July 1942.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
filmmaker, film theorist
Film theory
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large...
, journalist and critic. She was born in Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
and moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in early childhood. A few years after her marriage she embarked on a journalistic career in a feminist magazine, and later became interested in film. With the help of her husband and friend she founded a film company and directed a few commercial works before slowly moving into Impressionist
French Impressionist Cinema
French Impressionist Cinema, also referred to as the first avant-garde or narrative avant-garde, is a term applied to a group of French films and filmmakers of the 1920s....
and Surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
territory. She is best known today for her Impressionist film, La Souriante Madame Beudet ("The Smiling Madam Beaudet", 1922/23), and her Surrealist experiment, La Coquille et le Clergyman
The Seashell and the Clergyman
The Seashell and the Clergyman is considered by many to be the first surrealist film.-Production background:The film was directed by Germaine Dulac, from an original scenario by Antonin Artaud, and premiered in Paris on 9 February 1928...
("The Seashell and the Clergyman", 1928). Her career as filmmaker suffered after the introduction of sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
and she spent the last decade of her life working on newsreels for Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
and Gaumont
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
.
Biography
Germaine Dulac was born in AmiensAmiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
into an upper middle class family of a career military officer. Since her father's job required the family to frequently move between small garrison towns, Germaine was sent to live with her grandmother in Paris. She soon became interested in art and studied music, painting, and theater. In 1905 she married Louis-Albert Dulac, an agricultural engineer who also came from an upper class family. Four years later she began writing for La Française, a feminist magazine where she eventually became the drama critic.
Dulac became interested in film in 1914 through her friend, actress Stacia Napierkowska
Stacia Napierkowska
Stacia Napierkowska was a French actress and dancer, who worked during the silent film era. She appeared in 86 films between 1908 and 1926.-Biography:...
. The two women traveled to Italy together shortly before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
; Napierkowska was to act in a Film d'Art film, and Dulac learned the basics of the medium during that trip. Soon after her return to France she decided to start a film company. Dulac and writer Irène Hillel-Erlanger then founded D.H. Films, with financial support provided by Dulac's husband. The company produced several films between 1915 and 20, all directed by Dulac and written by Hillel-Erlanger. These included Les soeurs ennemies (1915/16; Dulac's first film), Vénus Victrix, ou Dans l'ouragan de la vie (1917), Géo, le mystérieux (La vraie richesse, 1916), and others.
Dulac's first major success was Âmes des fous (1918), a serial melodrama written by Dulac herself. The film features an early appearance of actress Ève Francis
Ève Francis
Ève Francis was an actress and film-maker. She was born in Belgium but spent most of her career in France. She became closely associated with the writer Paul Claudel, and she was married to the critic and film-maker Louis Delluc.-Career:Ève Francis was born Eva Louise François at...
, who introduced Dulac to her friend (later husband) Louis Delluc
Louis Delluc
Louis Delluc was a French film director, screen writer and film critic, many of whose late 1910s film writings for French newspapers were collected in the volume Cinema et cie...
, filmmaker and critic. A short time later Dulac and Delluc collaborated on La fête espagnole ("Spanish Fiesta", 1920), another film featuring Francis, which was proclaimed one of the decade's most influential films and, allegedly, a major French Impressionist Cinema
French Impressionist Cinema
French Impressionist Cinema, also referred to as the first avant-garde or narrative avant-garde, is a term applied to a group of French films and filmmakers of the 1920s....
work. However, only a few excerpts from the film exist today. Dulac and Delluc went on to collaborate on a number of pictures.
Dulac and her husband divorced in 1920. She continued her career in filmmaking, producing both simple commercial films and complex pre-Surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
narratives such as two of her most famous works: La Souriante Madame Beudet ("The Smiling Madam Beaudet", 1922/23) and La Coquille et le Clergyman
The Seashell and the Clergyman
The Seashell and the Clergyman is considered by many to be the first surrealist film.-Production background:The film was directed by Germaine Dulac, from an original scenario by Antonin Artaud, and premiered in Paris on 9 February 1928...
("The Seashell and the Clergyman", 1928). Both films were released before the epoch-making Un Chien Andalou
Un chien andalou
Un Chien Andalou is a 1929 silent surrealist short film by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí. It was Buñuel's first film and was initially released in 1929 to a limited showing in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months....
(1929) by Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, and La Coquille et le Clergyman is sometimes credited as the first Surrealist film; however, some scholars, such as Ephraim Katz
Ephraim Katz
Ephraim Katz was a writer, journalist, and filmmaker who devoted his life to gathering the information in his book, The Film Encyclopedia, first published in 1979....
, consider Dulac first and foremost an Impressionist filmmaker. Dulac's goal of "pure cinema" and some of her works inspired the French Cinema pur
Cinema pur
Cinéma Pur was an avant-garde film movement birthed in Paris in the 1920s and 30s. The term was first coined by Henri Chomette to define a cinema that focused on the pure elements of film like form, light, motion, visual composition, and rhythm, something he accomplished in his shorts Reflets de...
film movement. Her other important experimental films include several shorts based on music: Disque(s) 957 (1928/29; based on Chopin) and Thème et variations (1928/29; classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
), and others from the same period.
With the advent of sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
, Dulac's career started its decline. From about 1930 she returned to commercial work, producing newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
s for Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
and later for Gaumont
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
. She died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 20 July 1942.
Filmography
The exact chronology of Dulac's oeuvre has not yet been established. The dates given here are from the list compiled in Pallister 1997, 64–67, unless stated otherwise.- Les soeurs ennemies (1915; first film)
- Géo, le mystérieux (also known as La vraie richesse, Mysterious George and True Wealth) (1916)
- Les soeurs ennemies (1916)
- Vénus Victrix, ou Dans l'ouragan de la vie (1917)
- La jeune fille la plus méritante de France (1918)
- Âmes des fous (1918; serial film)
- Le bonheur des autres (1918)
- La fête espagnole (Pallister: 1919, Williams: 1920)
- La cigarette (1919)
- Malencontre (1920)
- Gossette (Pallister: 1920, Katz: 1923, Foster: 1922–23. Six episodes)
- La belle dame sans merci (1921)
- La mort du soleil (1922)
- Werther (1922; unfinished)
- La Souriante Madame Beudet (Pallister: 1922–1928?, Katz: 1923)
- Le diable dans la ville (1924)
- Âme d'artiste (1925)
- Antoinette Sabrier (Pallister: 1927, Katz: 1926)
- Le cinéma au service de l'histoire (1927; compilation)
- L'invitation au voyage (1927)
- La coquille et le clergymanThe Seashell and the ClergymanThe Seashell and the Clergyman is considered by many to be the first surrealist film.-Production background:The film was directed by Germaine Dulac, from an original scenario by Antonin Artaud, and premiered in Paris on 9 February 1928...
(1927) - Celles qui s'en font (1928)
- Disque(s) 957 (Pallister: 1928, Katz and Foster: 1929)
- Thème et variations (Pallister: 1928, Katz: 1929)
- [La] germination d'un haricot (1928; documentary)
- Danses espagnoles (1928)
- [La] Princesse Mandane (1929)
- Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque (1929)
- Je n'ai plus rien (1934)
Further reading
- Dozoretz, Wendy. 1982. Germaine Dulac : Filmmaker, Polemicist, Theoretician. Diss., New York University, 362 pp.
- Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy. 1996. To Desire Differently: Feminism and the French Cinema. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231104975
- Ford, Charles. Germaine Dulac : 1882 - 1942, Paris : Avant-Scène du Cinéma, 1968, 48 p. (Serie: Anthologie du cinéma ; 31)
- Katz, Ephraim; Fred Klein, Ronald Dean Nolan (2005). The Film Encyclopedia (5th Edition ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. ISBN 0-06-074214-3.