Anna, played by Renée Carl, goes from being a dance hall girl to devoting herself to caring for the sick and eventually running the establishment, helping the less fortunate. Word gets out of her past, as a dance hall girl, and everyone casts her aside and pushes her out of the charity that she runs. She considers suicide, but instead decides to go out east to help those in need. La Tare illustrates how good people can be brought down by those with rigid societal standards that are quick to judge and are unable to be forgiving.
The narrative is solid and well paced. The story itself is bleak and a little ridiculous since everyone turns on her so quick for something so innocuous; especially due to the selfless acts she does for those around her. The elites are so quick and eager to push the “unpure” out of their ranks that they are willing to destroy and dismantle an institution that brings so much assistance to the children and elderly in their society.
I wonder how prude France was in the 1910’s? Would a situation like this be reasonable at the time? Watching it now the situation seems ridiculous, but it is hard to tell if it is a commentary on how the elite was perceived or a rebuke of how the elite acted. Either way it is a solid early example of French filmmaking.
Directed by: Louis Feuillade
Screenplay by: Louis Feuillade
Starring: Renée Carl, Jean Aymé, and Henri Collen
Runtime: 41m
Genre: Drama
Distributed by: Gaumont Film Company
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