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“Cœur Fidèle must be seen if you want to understand the resources of the cinema today.” - Filmmaker René Clair
Jean Epstein's best-known feature film, The Faithful Heart is in essence a melodrama - Marie (Gina Manès), an orphan raised by a cruel bar owner and his wife, is pressured to marry local ruffian Petit Paul (Edmond Van Daële), but her heart lies with Jean (Léon Mathot), a dockworker. A simple enough premise, but the use of techniques such as rapid-fire editing and superimposition furthered the contributions Epstein's creative filmmaking made to the art of storytelling.
Screens with The Sea of Ravens (France, 22 mins), Epstein's short documentary filmed on the Breton island of Sein, which film preservationist and cinephile Henri Langlois called “one of the most beautiful documentaries in the history of French film, a true poem about Brittany and the sea”.
D Jean Epstein S Jean Epstein, Marie Epstein WS Pathe L French intertitles w/English subtitles TD 35mm/1923
This film has been restored by La Cinémathèque française.
Read an extended article on The Faithful Heart at Senses of Cinema.