Death of Marat

1897 CrimeDrama 1 minute (17 meters) Directed by Alexandre Promio

About Death of Marat

In a single staged shot, Charlotte Corday approaches Jean-Paul Marat as he sits in his bath and stabs him. A map of France hangs on the wall behind the tub.

Cast & crew

More about Death of Marat

Georges Hatot filmed it for the Lumière company in August or September 1897 at the Bal de l'Artilleur on the Île de la Grande Jatte, with Alexandre Promio and Gaston Breteau. It is Lumière catalogue 749. The 17-meter negative was deposited on 27 November 1897. The Cinématographe Lumière in Lyon showed it on 20 February 1898. The sparse set and the map match the Musée Grévin waxwork of Marat's death, opened in 1886 with his bathtub and a 1791 map of France.

Themes

  • the killing of Marat
  • a staged history view
  • 1793 in a single shot
  • Charlotte Corday
  • Jean-Paul Marat
  • bathtub
  • map of France
  • assassination

Look

Alexandre Promio is listed with Hatot on the Lumière catalogue entry. The scene is one fixed shot.

Notes

  • Maurice Lafont, of the Lumière hall on the boulevard Saint-Denis, is named among the performers.
  • A Cine-Tourist note also compares the map to Paul Baudry's 1860 painting Charlotte Corday, now in Nantes.
  • Hatot recalled that the Lumière brothers liked this group of historical views and then asked the troupe for comedies.

Scenes

  • Corday stabs Marat in the bath, with a map of France behind him.

Influenced by

  • Musée Grévin waxwork of the death of Marat

More from Alexandre Promio

View all →