Epstein, Marie 1899-1995

views updated

Epstein, Marie 1899-1995
(Marie-Antonine Epstein)

PERSONAL:

Born August 14, 1899, in Warsaw, Poland; immigrated to Paris, France, with brother, Jean Epstein, 1921; died April 24, 1995, in Paris, France.

CAREER:

Actress, film director, and author. Collaborated with director and brother Jean Epstein in directing, writing, and acting on films, 1923-27; collaborated on making films with Jean Benoît-Lévy, 1927-39; Cinémathèque Française, director of technical services and film restorer and reconstructor, 1940-77; sole director and writer of film La Grande espérance, 1953; collaborated on the Ballets of France documentary series with Benoît-Lévy, c. 1950s.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Grand Prix du Film Français, 1937, for La Mort du cygne.

WRITINGS:

SCREENPLAYS

(With brother, Jean Epstein) L'Auberge rouge, 1923.

(With Jean Epstein, and actor) L'Affiche, 1925.

(And director, with Jean Epstein) Six et demi-onze,1927.

(With Jean Epstein) Vive la Vie, 1937.

La Grande espérance (documentary), 1953.

La Liberté surveillée (title means "Provisional Liberty"), 1958.

SCREENPLAYS; AND DIRECTOR AND EDITOR WITH JEAN BENOIT-LÉVY

Ames d'enfants, 1927.

Peau de pêche, 1928.

Maternité, 1929.

Jimmy Bruiteur, 1930.

Le Coeur de Paris, 1931.

La Maternelle (based on the novel by Léon Frapié), 1933.

Itto, 1934.

Hélène, 1936.

La Mort du cygne (title means "The Dying Swan"), 1937.

Altitude 3200, 1938.

La Feu de paille (title means "The Straw Fire"), 1939.

SIDELIGHTS:

Overshadowed throughout her life by the male film directors with whom she worked, the late Marie Epstein is now considered by many to have been an important contributor to the French cinema of the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Warsaw, she immigrated to France with her brother, Jean, and together they began collaborating on films in the early 1920s. Epstein codirected, edited, and wrote much of the material they produced, and she fulfilled similar roles with Jean Benoît-Lévy from 1927 through the end of the 1930s. She was not credited for this work, but the modest Epstein did not seem to mind, even when Benoît-Lévy published his memoirs and relegated her name to one footnote in his book.

Today, however, Epstein is recognized both for her gifts as a storyteller and as a director. Though her movies varied considerably in style and plot, common themes can be seen regarding domestic life and relationships, the importance of the mother-child bond, and the significance of the seemingly ordinary in people's lives. For example, in L'Affiche the power of the photograph is limned after a woman whose baby has died sees the infant's picture used in popular advertising, a constant reminder of her loss. The mother-child relationship is depicted in many of Epstein's films. In Maternité a woman who regrets her decision not to have children discovers that there are equally rewarding opportunities to nurture the children of friends as well as the poor children in orphanages. La Mort du cygne features a maternal relationship between a twelve-year-old ballerina and the object of her adoration, the star dancer of a stage troupe. In La Maternelle an orphaned girl longs for a mother and ultimately finds one in a tenderhearted cleaning woman. When this last movie, one of Epstein's best known, debuted in the United States, New YorkTimes film critic Andre Sennwald lauded it as "a film of extraordinary insight, tenderness, and tragic beauty." Epstein has also been praised for her direction, using creative filming techniques to depict the subjective viewpoints of her characters.

After making her last feature film in 1939, Epstein joined the Cinémathèque Française staff, concentrating on restoring older films, including her brother's, and working as a director of technical services. Though she stopped producing films based on fiction, she continued her directing work into the 1950s as a documentary filmmaker, before retiring permanently in 1977.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, October 15, 1935, Andre Sennwald, "American Debut of La Maternelle, at the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse—‘Little America’"; January 29, 1936, Frank S. Nugent, "The Screen: A Film Report on French Conquest in Morocco in Itto, at the Cinema de Paris."