1901-1910 Drama France Louis Feuillade Silent

Louis Feuillade – La Possession de l’enfant (1909)

adminNovember 29, 2020

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Melodrama about a rich father who gains custody of his child while the mother goes off in tears. Of course, the child is miserable even though he has everything in the world but after a weekend trip at his poor mother’s house, the child realizes that money isn’t everything and he has to convince the father that his money is evil.

Review at Century Film Project
This is another of Louis Feuillade’s early works for Gaumont studios in France. Although this is largely similar to Progressive Era morality dramas being made in the United States, there are some interesting differences. First of all, the very act of basing a film on the premise of divorce is unusual for American pictures anytime before “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979), or at least “The Parent Trap” (1961). It’s also interesting that it is the father who is awarded custody, making the conflict of the film the natural love between a mother and child, and the harm done by divorce to this institution.

Modern audiences may be confused by the long hair and petticoats of the male child, but this would have been typical in Europe at the time. Again, Feuillade makes good use of Paris exteriors intercut with generic, cramped stage-like sets for the play.