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Musidora

Musidora

Acting

Biography

Jeanne Roques (23 February 1889 – 11 December 1957), known professionally as Musidora, was a French actress, film director, and writer. She is best known for her acting in silent films, and rose to public attention for roles in the Louis Feuillade serials Les Vampires as Irma Vep and in Judex as Marie Verdier.

Known For

Musidora, the Tenth Muse

Patrick Cazals’ film, La Dixième Muse, brings Musidora to life for the second time. The first occasion was the publication of his earlier book on the same subject with Henri Veyrier in 1978. The latter remains an essential work of reference because its author was the first person since Francis Lacassin to have surveyed Musidora’s career as a pioneering filmmaker and total artist. It includes previously undiscovered documents that are no longer accessible in their original form. This film too contains many previously unknown images found and selected by Patrick Cazals. Above all, it offers the animated image of a beauty in a close-fitting black suit, and her voice that speaks directly to us, alongside the voices of all those the director has brought together to establish a subtle bond with Musidora and bring her into our own age.

Musidora, the Tenth Muse

2013Movie
For Don Carlos
7.0

Pour Don Carlos was the biggest production by Société des Films Musidora (est. December 10, 1919). Based on a novel by Pierre Benoît, Musidora’s first creatively autonomous work is set during the conflict between Carlists and Bourbons in late 19th century Spain. Benoît insisted that Jacques Lasseyne, a Spanish grandee who put money into the production, should co-direct. The film was shot in 1920, in the Spanish Basque Country. It represents a turning point in Musidora’s career, sparking her passionate love affair with a country and a culture that welcomed her as a great star. Above all, though, she encountered Antonio Cañero, a bullfighter who acted as her technical adviser on the film. Because of him, she did all she could to ensure that her succeeding productions, until 1926, were shot in Spain. Pour Don Carlos was released in Paris and in Madrid in December 1921, in a shortened version because its original, three-hour length made it impossible to release in the market of the time.

For Don Carlos

1921Movie
The Cradle of God
7.0

A young intellectual, J. Powers, loses his faith in God after the untimely death of his wife. He devotes his great talents to writing a shockingly blasphemous book, debunking all religion, and then embarks on a trip to Jerusalem. Far from reconciling him to God, the sight of all the different sects worshipping in that ancient city only serves to embitter him and deepen his unbelief. One day, wandering in the country, he loses his way and stops to ask directions at a small house. The inhabitants are a poor but devout family whose daughter, Ruth, revives his broken heart. At the risk of losing her, he confesses to her his loss of faith, and she gently declares that meditation on the Gospels will heal him. He sorrowfully tells her that he wishes he could believe as she does, but it is impossible.

The Cradle of God

1926Movie