Germaine Dulac

Dulac, Germaine (1882-1942). Feminist filmmaker and theorist of the silent period; she directed the sensational La Coquille et le clergyman (1927), scripted by Artaud [see cinema; Surrealism].

• Born: Nov, 1882 in Amiens, France
• Died: Jul, 1942
• Occupation: Director, Writer
• Active: '20s
• Major Genres: Drama, Comedy Drama
• Career Highlights: La Coquille et le Clergyman, La Souriante Madame Beudet, Gossette
• First Major Screen Credit: La Cigarette (1919)

Biography

Germaine Dulac was the first feminist filmmaker and a key figure in the development of the French Avant Garde cinema of the '20s. In the early 1900s, she had been a photographer and writer in two feminist journals, La Fronde and Le Francaise. After World War I there were more opportunities for women in post-War France, and she, intrigued with film, began Delia Film, her own production company. Her first films were standard melodramas. In 1917, she and theoretician Louis Delluc teamed up to begin the French avant-garde movement, which is also called French Impressionism. Dulac was the center of the French Impressionism comprised of intellectuals and filmmakers devoted to promoting film as the 'seventh art.' Dulac was fascinated with movement and her abstract films reflect this. She attempted to create a style that she dubbed 'the integral film... a visual symphony made of rhythmic images.' La Coquille et le Clergyman (1927) is her best example of integral film. In addition to abstract images, Dulac was also known for her abiding commitment to feminist issues as can be seen in her more traditional, and best-known film La Souriante Madame Beudet (1923). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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