rebe_afaro Review of Sumerki zhenskoy dushi

Sumerki zhenskoy dushi (1913)

This film is about a young innocent woman that loses herself to darkness when an unexpected event changes her life forever.

[7/10 · 5 September 2015]

Bauer does an exceptional job of conveying his characters emotions without the use of words. Twilight of Woman's Soul especially had an absence of words. Despite this I was still able to follow the key events and understand what was happening in the main character's, Vera, mind. After the rape and murder she seems confused and understandably traumatized which can be seen by the hallucination she has when hugging her suitor. Through the expressions and props the movie also did a job of showing the disparities of the two classes which was one of the most common themes during the time. In this film the camera person actually follows the subject instead of trying to fit them into the frame. Of course the time period is notable because of the slow pace she had to walk to accommodate for the older, much less advanced equipment The use of tinting the films is also present here as in other early silent films which can be representative of a shift to a different worlds. This is a clever film manipulation that highlights a main event. The recurring themes that Bauer presents in many of his works are present here. Much like in Bauer Dying Swan there is a shift between initial innocence to corruption. As the movie progresses there is an overall darkness that can be open to interpretation to its relevance to the time period. The loss of innocence is almost palpable and very well interpreted, which is more than can be said for some of the modern movies that exist now. Overall Bauer does an amazing job of getting his film to convey actual emotions and story.