L'inhumaine

1924 [FRENCH]

Action / Adventure / Drama / Mystery / Romance / Sci-Fi

10
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 1138 1.1K

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Plot summary

A famous singer Claire Lescot, who lives on the outskirts of Paris, is courted by many men, including a maharajah, Djorah de Nopur, and a young Swedish scientist, Einar Norsen. At her lavish parties she enjoys their amorous attentions but she remains emotionally aloof and heartlessly taunts them. When she is told that Norsen has killed himself because of her, she shows no feelings. At her next concert she is booed by an audience outraged at her coldness and she decides to visit the vault in which Norsen's body lies.

Top cast

Jean Börlin as (uncredited)
Raymond Guérin-Catelain as (uncredited)
Émile Saint-Ober as (uncredited)
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.09 GB
968*720
French 2.0
NR
18 fps
2 hr 15 min
Seeds ...
1.95 GB
1440*1072
French 2.0
NR
18 fps
2 hr 15 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Igor1882

Literally historic

Goerge Antheil, in his autobiography "Bad Boy of Music," claims that the concert riot scene is actual footage of his own October 4, 1923 concert at the Théâtre Champs Elysées. This event helped seal his reputation as one of the leading modernists of the day. If this is true, then actual artistic history was made because of a reaction at least partially staged for the making of this movie. Among the luminaries present -- and possibly visible -- are Eric Satie (looking like a "beneficent elderly goat") and Darius Milhaud. A few days later, Antheil announced that he was looking for a motion-picture accompaniment to his Ballet Mécanique, a call answered by Fernand Leger.
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Reviewed by TheCapsuleCritic 8 / 10

Fantastic Fusion Of The Arts Still Fascinates

Leave it to Flicker Alley to come up with a silent movie that I wasn't aware of. I may have come across Marcel L'Herbier's 1924 L'INHUMAINE (The Inhuman Woman) in some silent film reference book but I don't recall it. I knew of the director's later movie L'ARGENT (1928) but not this one. Having just watched the film, this is rather surprising as it is quite remarkable on a number of levels. Some of the futuristic design especially in the laboratory scenes recall a Soviet sci-fi film called AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS which was released 6 months earlier while Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS (1927) may have borrowed a thing or two from them later on. L'Herbier envisioned the film as being a "miscellany of modern art" and there is indeed something for everyone in an artistic sense. From an entertainment sense, it's a different matter as its appeal outside of artistic circles would be very limited (just like art films today).

The melodramatic plot tells the story of a callous opera singer (real life opera singer Georgette Leblanc who co-produced) who throws lavish parties and toys with men's affections. When one of them suddenly commits suicide, her fans and detractors clash at one of her concerts recalling THE RITE OF SPRING premiere in 1913. A jealous suitor poisons her with a deadly snake and then it's up to a former lover to bring her back to life in his state-of-the-art laboratory. That's just the basic outline. L'Herbier uses every cinematic trick he can think of from rapid montage editing to a saturation of color tints to enhance his story. The real star here is the decor, a riot of art nouveau as conceived by several leading artists of the day. The sets (especially the laboratory) and the fashions must be seen to be believed. As the plot would indicate, this is not meant to be realistic in any sense of the word which makes it ideal for the medium of silent movies.

The restoration by Flicker Alley and Lobster Films may be the finest that they have ever done regarding the overall look of a film. An original nitrate print in good condition (courtesy of the director's daughter) was the source material and the original color tints as specified by L'Herbier were utilized in the transfer to a digital medium. The two set pieces, the tumultuous concert and the lab resurrection, remain astonishing even to this day. If you carefully look at the 57 minute mark, you'll see composers Erik Satie (ill with less than a year to live) and Les Six member Darius Milhaud (who wrote the original score which is now lost) in the audience at the concert. This Blu-Ray offering comes with two brand new scores, one by percussionist Aidje Tafial, the other by the Alloy Orchestra. Both are effective but I prefer the former. If ever a silent movie was made for Blu-Ray release, it's this one and Flicker Alley & Co have done it up proud. Thank You!... For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

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