The Girl from Arles
About The Girl from Arles
Frédéric leaves his sweetheart Yvette and his family and goes to Arles for the bullfight in the Roman amphitheatre. There he meets a girl, walks the old streets with her, and they promise to marry. Her former lover Mitifio is turned away. Frédéric takes her home and his parents welcome her. Days before the wedding Mitifio shows grandfather Balthazar a letter that proves she had been his mistress. Frédéric faces her. She admits it and leaves. His mother talks him into marrying Yvette. He still sees the girl from Arles. In the attic he thinks he sees her kissing Mitifio at the open window, lunges, falls, and dies in his mother's arms. Yvette watches.
Cast & crew
More about The Girl from Arles
Albert Capellani directed the first film of the SCAGL, from Alphonse Daudet's play. Charles Pathé set the company up in 1908 to film literary works, against Le Film d'Art and its Assassination of the Duke of Guise. It opened in France on 1 October 1908. The negative is 355 meters, 18 minutes at 18 frames a second, in 43 shots and 10 intertitles. Paul Capellani plays Frédéric. Jeanne Grumbach plays the girl from Arles. Henri Desfontaines plays Mitifio. Henry Krauss plays Balthazar. Almost all of it was shot in Arles.
Themes
Background
SCAGL was Pathé's answer, in 1908, to Film d'Art. This picture was the first one the new company finished.
Making
Capellani, artistic director of the new SCAGL, took the company to Arles for the streets and the arena instead of building them.
Look
Capellani shot the amphitheatre, the streets, and the groves on location, with two pans and otherwise fixed wide shots.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- The locations include the amphitheatre and the olive groves.
- Two of the shots pan. The rest are fixed wide views.
- The intertitles introduce scenes. They do not carry the dialogue.
- The French title is L'Arlésienne.
Scenes
- Frédéric meets the girl at the amphitheatre.
- Mitifio shows Balthazar the letter.
- Frédéric falls from the attic window and dies in his mother's arms.
Influenced by
- Alphonse Daudet's L'Arlésienne
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-larlsienne)
