Histoire d'un crime (film)

For the Victor Hugo novel, see The History of a Crime.

Histoire d'un crime is a 1901 French silent film by Ferdinand Zecca, distributed by Pathé Frères.[1] The film stars Jean Liézer as the murderer and was based on a contemporary tableau series titled "L'histoire d'un crime" at the Musée Grévin.[2] It is considered the first French crime film and among the first to use seedy, realistic settings.[3] Film historian Don Fairservice has notedHistoire d'un crime was "very influential."[4][5]

Plot

A sleeping man is stabbed by a burglar during a home invasion. The next day the burglar is arrested at a cafe while spending lavishly on wine. He is put on trial and found guilty. While the burglar is being held in prison, the film shows a series of flashbacks to the burglar as an honest workman with a happy home life. He soon begins to drink heavily, which leads to becoming a burglar and finally a murderer. As the day of execution arrives, the executioners cut his hair off and a priest performs an expiation. The burglar is led to the guillotine and he is executed.

References

  1. ↑ Lanzoni, Rémi Fournier (2004). French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present. Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 9780826416001
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Vanessa R. (1999). Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-siècle Paris. University of California Press, ISBN 9780520221680
  3. ↑ Austin, Guy (1996). Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction. Manchester University Press, ISBN 9780719046117
  4. ↑ Fairservice, Don (2002). Film Editing: History, Theory and Practice: Looking at the Invisible. Manchester University Press, ISBN 9780719057779
  5. ↑ Doane, Mary Ann (2002). The Emergence of Cinematic Time: Modernity, Contingency, the Archive. Harvard University Press, ISBN 9780674007291


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