Tartuffe (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts 30.2 extract: Tartuffe (1925)



Understated and simple, but, alas, this is a Murnau picture and so it is, unsurprisingly, a visual spectacle. 
Tartuffe is a story about hypocrisy, deceit, family and religion; it is about finding a balance between faith and trust for the sake of freedom. (There is a deeper subtext of religious critique from the homosexual Murnau, however). This story is adapted from a famous French play first performed in the mid-1600s, but it is given a reflexive edge with this being a story within a story; a grandson plays this film for his grandfather as to warn him of his treacherous maid. This narrative consciousness bares subtle commentary on cinema's relationship with the theatre; though the two forms are radically different, narratives are always relevant - as is their projection. Cinema is shown, however, to overcome theatre with its ability to speak to audiences suggested to be more dexterous and effective. 
A must-see for anyone interested in art cinema and film history.

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