La dixieme symphonie (1918) directed by Abel Gance
Viewed on July 19, 2019
Synopsis:
As the film opens, Eve Dinant has just shot and killed the sister of Fred Ryce. She claims self-defense, but a letter she wrote points to a motive. Ryce threatens to turn her over to the police unless she stays with him. Reluctantly she agrees.
Eventually, she buys her freedom from him and leaves. She falls in love with and marries a great composer, Enrid Damor.
Damor has a daughter, Claire, who is being pursued by an older gentleman, a marquis. She doesn't take him seriously, but he is persistent. Then, she reveals to Eve that she has another lover, Fred. Eve's expression gives away that she is bothered by this news, but she denies that she knows Fred.
She writes a letter to Fred demanding that he stop pursuing Claire. Her husband walks in, and she hides the letter on a book, before she has a chance to seal it. When she leaves the room, Damor discovers the letter. He considers reading it, but decides not to. Instead, he seals the letter. Eve returns and retrieves the letter, but she realizes that he has sealed it. But has he read it? She doesn't know.
She calls up Fred, but the phone is answered by someone who tells her that Fred has gone to fight a duel, but he doesn't know with whom. She leaps to the conclusion that it must be her husband. In actuality, it is the marquis who has challenged him to a duel. The marquis is a terrible shot. He fires first and misses. Fred takes aim, fires up, and kills a bird that lands at the marquis's feet. Everyone laughs, and the marquis is humiliated.
Fred and Damor arrive at the house, much to the relief of Eve. She tells him that she thought they were dueling, arousing Damor's suspicions. Later, Eve spots Fred and Claire in the garden, kissing. She is in anguish which Damor misinterprets as jealousy.
That night, Damor intercepts a letter from Fred to Eve in which Fred tells Eve to stop interfering. Damor confronts Eve and demands to know why she is interfering in Claire's happiness. He shows Eve the letter. Eve cannot tell him the truth because Fred has the evidence that will send her to prison. So she lies that she secretly loves Fred. Claire enters the room, and Damor tells her that a marriage has been arranged in 10 days to Fred, thanks to Eve. Out of Claire's earshot, she insists that this marriage must not happen. Damor channels his evident anguish into his work, beginning the composition of his next symphony.
The Marquis reads in the paper the notice of Claire's engagement which will be celebrated at a soiree that night.
At the party, Eve tells Fred that she has written a letter revealing his black mail and, if he goes ahead with the marriage plans, she will kill herself the day before the wedding.
Before the assembled guests, Damor gives a preview of his symphony, which tells the story of Beethoven betrayed by a woman. The assorted guests, and even the servants, are transfixed by the performance, which is interspersed with abstract shots of a ghostly woman dancing in the forest. Even Fred seems moved.
After the guests leave, Eve is alone. She crosses off the title of the manuscript and renames it "The Tenth Symphony." She faints. Fred sees her, puts her in his arms, and kisses her. He tells her that he will not marry Claire, and that he will explain himself to her tomorrow. After he leaves, Damor comes upon the manuscript with the changed title.
Eve goes to see Fred. He shows her the letter that he has kept. He calls Claire to tell him that he is leaving on a trip. He then writes a letter saying that the affair was just a whim, but he threatens to tear up the letter unless Eve agrees to leave with him. She agrees.
Claire receives the letter and vows to have vengeance on her rival. The next day, she shadows Fred.
Fred writes a letter enclosing the proof of Eve's guilt, addressing it to Damor. He instructs his servant to deliver it if he calls him up.
Eve arrives, and Claire follows her. She sees Eve and Fred, and realizes that Eve is her rival. She returns home and tells her father that Fred has broken off their engagement. She then sees a letter her father is writing to Eve, stating that he is unable to compose. Claire lies to him that she is going to meet Eve for tea, and that he is mistaken about her.
She goes to Fred's estate, having stolen the gun from her father's desk. She catches Fred pursuing Eve, and threatens to shoot him. Instead, Fred shoots himself. Eve then tells Claire the whole story.
In the meantime, Fred's servant leaves with the incriminating letter. Damor reads the letter and realizes the great sacrifice that she has made. He burns the letter in the fireplace. When she and Claire return, Claire thinks that she has covered up for Eve successfully, but Eve sees the letter in the fire and realizes that he knows. He receives word that his symphony is a great success. The storm has passed. His love for Eve is strong again.
Commentary:
My feelings about Gance waver. Is he a great director, or merely a self-important director? He often has great ideas, and his execution of those ideas is rigorous. But sometimes the rigorousness gets in the way. An example here is the centerpiece of the film, Damor playing his latest symphony for a gathering of friends. It's a very lengthy sequence during which the guests go from seeming boredom or nonchalance to rapt attention. Gance cuts from one group to the other and back to Damor, and he builds tension. But he also intercuts silly abstract shots of a ghostly dancer in an apparent attempt to show the power of the music visually. It doesn't work. The sequence is also interminable.
But there are other moments, despite the hokey plot, that evoke real emotion, especially in the performances of Emmy Lynn as Eve, trying to hide her past with the evil Fred (wonderfully acted by Jean Toulout).
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