'Twilight of a Woman's Soul' is very much a product of its time, and as such, allows the audience a glimpse of many different things surrounding the time period, in both cinema and society. Cinematically, it is much like its contemporaries. The cinematography is simple; every scene is designed very carefully so that a single shot can be used for an entire scene. That being said, each shot is also beautifully rendered, and the production design often tells a lot about the place and the character. For instance, when the lead character, Vera, is introduced as a lonely woman, she is shown as a very small figure in a large room, and the design of the shot isolates her in an empty space to display her loneliness.
The film relies on a format similar to one that could be found at an opera, play, or ballet to tell the story, perhaps because feature-length films were in the very early stages of existence. To introduce each main character, title cards and non-diegetic shots of the appropriate character are used, much like a program for a play would. Each scene, also like a play, is titled with a card to tell the viewer the location.
The social aspect of the film is perhaps the most interesting of all. It is self-loathing in a way, as the woman shamed becomes an actress, as if that is the only profession she would be able to take up after her assault and subsequent, presumably annulled marriage.
The way class is treated in the film is also very interesting. The lead characters are all very wealthy and often shown as such, draped in furs and surrounded by bouquets of flowers. The poor characters in the film are all shown to be despicable people; the first people they charitably visit hide a table full of food that they have been stuffing their faces with before the wealthy women arrive to give them more food. The second person they visit is shown to be an alcoholic and he eventually assaults Vera, leading to the downward spiral of her life. The film seems to use the difference in class as a plot device, but the intention behind the derision towards the lower class, and the reception of such treatment of perhaps part of the viewing audience, is worth considering when viewing this film.
The film relies on a format similar to one that could be found at an opera, play, or ballet to tell the story, perhaps because feature-length films were in the very early stages of existence. To introduce each main character, title cards and non-diegetic shots of the appropriate character are used, much like a program for a play would. Each scene, also like a play, is titled with a card to tell the viewer the location.
The social aspect of the film is perhaps the most interesting of all. It is self-loathing in a way, as the woman shamed becomes an actress, as if that is the only profession she would be able to take up after her assault and subsequent, presumably annulled marriage.
The way class is treated in the film is also very interesting. The lead characters are all very wealthy and often shown as such, draped in furs and surrounded by bouquets of flowers. The poor characters in the film are all shown to be despicable people; the first people they charitably visit hide a table full of food that they have been stuffing their faces with before the wealthy women arrive to give them more food. The second person they visit is shown to be an alcoholic and he eventually assaults Vera, leading to the downward spiral of her life. The film seems to use the difference in class as a plot device, but the intention behind the derision towards the lower class, and the reception of such treatment of perhaps part of the viewing audience, is worth considering when viewing this film.