Filmstelle

Pierre Amsler, mayor and owner of the sawmill in the village of Saint-Luc in the Valais, loses his wife and considers remarrying a young widow with a young daughter. Jean, Amsler’s 10-year-old son, does not accept his mother’s disappearance and has, therefore, a complicated relationship with his father’s new wife and her daughter.

One hundred years after its release, this silent drama shot in 1925 by Belgian director Jacques Feyder, focusing on the psychological elements of the characters and supported by excellent acting, continues to impress with the way it approaches the theme of grief and conflict within a family and between children: a Swiss and French co-production that can be considered a masterpiece and that cannot fail to be screened in a cycle wholly dedicated to the theme of the family.

Luca Frei