The Heart and the Money
About The Heart and the Money
Madame Mauguiot keeps the riverside inn Saule d'Argent and hates the match between her daughter Suzanne and Raymond, a fisherman with no money. She pushes Suzanne toward Monsieur Vernier, a rich landowner who wants her at his château. Suzanne gives in and marries him. The marriage bores her. Vernier dies in a railway accident. At the lawyer's office she learns she inherits his fortune only if she never remarries. She goes back to Raymond. He will not take her. She drowns herself in the river. A split screen sets her sad face against the earlier boat ride with Raymond.
Cast & crew
More about The Heart and the Money
Louis Feuillade and Léonce Perret directed. Feuillade wrote it. Georges Guérin photographed it. Gaumont released it in France on August 23, 1912. A surviving copy runs 17 minutes 48 seconds, from an original 382 meters at 18 frames per second. Wikidata lists 18 minutes. The French title is Le Cœur et l'Argent.
Themes
Making
The river scenes were shot at Grez-sur-Loing. The split screen puts Suzanne in the house and, beside that, on the water with Raymond.
Look
Georges Guérin shot the river at Grez-sur-Loing and the split-screen passage after the marriage.
Technique
A split screen places Suzanne's face next to the boat ride she remembers.
Preservation
Gaumont-Pathé Archives holds a 35mm source. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Suzanne Grandais plays Suzanne Mauguiot. Renée Carl plays Madame Mauguiot. Raymond Lyon plays Raymond. Paul Manson plays Monsieur Vernier. Henri Gallet plays the lawyer. Aurelio Sidney is also billed.
- The inn's name, Saule d'Argent, means Silver Willow.
- The wedding and the inheritance condition are played against a split-screen memory of the boat.
- Giornate del Cinema Muto lists the source copy at Gaumont-Pathé Archives in Saint-Ouen.
Scenes
- Suzanne and Raymond are on the river when her mother takes her away.
- The lawyer reads the condition that she must not remarry.
- She walks into the river after Raymond turns her away.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Heart and Money 1912 LOUIS FEUILLADE LEONCE PERRET Le coeur et l argent.webm)
