A stylish silent from 1920s France, scored by acclaimed Frame Ensemble.
The film
A young woman comes to Paris to work at her uncle’s haberdashery shop only to find that the family business is being crushed by the huge department store opposite. Adapted from Emile Zola’s novel, Au Bonheur des Dames is both a stunning evocation of late-1920s Parisian style and a comment on the consumerism of the age. With gliding camerawork and beautiful Paris settings, Julien Duvivier’s elegiac film was shot in the Autumn of 1929, just as the silent film era was being replaced by the talkies.
The music
Frame Ensemble’s acclaimed improvised scores bring silent cinema into vivid life, each performance a unique and unrepeatable spontaneous musical response to the film. Frame Ensemble returns to The Stoller Hall following their performance of Pandora’s Box in 2023.
Music: Frame Ensemble
Director: Julian Duvivier
Year: 1929
Country: France
Length: 1 hour 47 minutes
With thanks to FPA Classics
