The good guys win out in this sweet tale about a young orphan who is abused for much of her life but who eventually finds happiness when she marries an honest man who extricates her from her situation.
Direction
Epstein's rapid-fire montage at the fair—pure cinematic adrenaline.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like it wants to be hung in a gallery.
Acting
Gina Manès communicates entire novels with her eyes alone.
Director
Jean Epstein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Marie Epstein, playing the Crippled Woman, was the director's sister and later became a significant filmmaker herself, often collaborating with Jean on screenplays.
This is peak French Impressionist cinema—critics at the time literally debated whether Epstein's rapid cutting at the fair was 'too fast to perceive,' accidentally inventing the conversation about MTV editing sixty years early.
FR
