Cœur fidèle

Jean Epstein's 1923 silent film uses a simple melodrama set on the Marseille waterfront as ground for testing what cinema can do. Marie hopes to get out of a life in which she is badly treated; two men want her, one crude and threatening, the other honest. The story is familiar, and the film's importance lies in how it is told. Epstein uses close-ups, superimpositions, shots taken in motion and extremely fast cutting. The most cited passage is the fairground scene in which two characters ride a carousel: the camera is mounted on the ride itself, and the sequence is broken into dozens of shots, some only a few frames long, scattering time and space. It is regarded as a founding text of French Impressionist cinema. Who it's for: viewers curious about silent film and formal experiment. Who it's not for: anyone looking for story and character depth; the film puts both behind its technical trial.