Le chemineau
R: Albert Capellani. P: Pathé Frères. Fr 1905
Piano: Günter A. Buchwald
Print: EYE Film Institute Netherlands

An adaption of the second chapter of Victor Hugo‘s “Les Misérables”

“From 1905 to 1907, Capellani made about twenty films. At first, he concentrated on drama. (…) In Le chemineau, he already demonstrates a real visual sense. A man walks under the snow in a wintry landscape. Rather than moving parallel to the camera, he walks directly towards it until his face appears in full close-up. The close-up was still uncommon in French films and still would be by the time Capallani left Pathé in 1914.”
Christine Leteux: Albert Capellani: Pioneer of the Silent Screen. University Press of Kentucky 2015