On the occasion of the Musée d'Orsay Film Festival and as part of the theme "Night at the cinema", Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau' s L'Aurore was programmed. While waiting for The Night of the Hunter and Encounters of the Third Kind, the Museum opted for a 1928 classic directed by the visionary director of Nosferatu. A projection coupled with a little surprise since she was accompanied by pianist Paul Goussot, on the keyboard to interpret the music of the film.
A nocturnal ambiguity
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau fits perfectly into the theme put forward by the Musée d'Orsay. He is a talented filmmaker who has often appropriated nocturnal benefits to enhance his works. The night is the subject of all fantasies, it is a paradoxical object, both representative of death and rebirth. The night, ambiguous state par excellence, plays with the fears and desires of the spectator. It can call for cold, sadness, isolation, melancholy, bewilderment, joy, festivity, warmth or security. The Musée d'Orsay could just as easily have chosen Nosferatu, a dark and impressive Gothic work based on Bram Stoker's Dracula . However, the choice of L'Aurore adds an element of surprise: the presentation of a film that uses the night wonderfully and subtly. Murnau first places his characters in a context of decadence. The protagonists, suffering from increasing poverty, are forced to get rid of their property and animals. The husband, played by O'Brien, is sad. His heart is corrupt and the attraction he once felt for his wife has been tarnished. He is now in love with another, a mysterious and mesmerizing woman. With this starting postulate, the filmmaker will materialize the night as a vector of bad omens. The encounter between the protagonist and this manipulative woman manifests itself at night, in a penetrating darkness. The night is full of animality, anxieties and fears, it appears under its morose face, supporting the presence of this demonic harpy, a kind of vermin specter appearing at the whim of the moon, showing itself only after dark. Murnau will operate, over the course of history, an evolution of this representation of the night. In the second part, when the flame unifying the couple will be rekindled, the night will show itself under a new face, more welcoming. The director, to accompany the reborn love, gives a much safer vision of the night, which becomes the illusion of desires and fantasies. The atmosphere becomes festive, highlighted by the crowd, music, partying, dancing and alcohol. Through this reassuring vocation, the night becomes the acolyte of good memories. A perfectly established transition that symbolizes the internal changes of the protagonists.
L'Aurore, a film with impeccable technique before its time
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau offers us, beyond this story full of symbolism, appearing as one of the most beautiful romances in the history of cinema, some technical feats of the first order. He signs a sumptuous photography, supported by perfect framing and sets in line with the scenario. The camera shot of this director is very fluid, offering some light shots sequences before the time.Distilling here and there some comic elements very inspired by Chaplin's cinema (burlesque and well thought out situation humor), L'Aurore moves from the black thriller to the romantic comedy. The transition is smooth and the psychological spring remains interesting. Murnau highlights the psychological state of his male character, bringing an absolute and edifying truth, which considers that, with his back to the wall, Man is ready to do anything to turn the page. However, the filmmaker will contradict this assertion by the relational, the feelings and the memory dimension. The director will try to surprise his viewer and leave room for doubt until his more or less expected conclusion.
L'Aurore was a legitimate choice of the Musée d'Orsay to launch its theme around the night in the cinema, as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's film lends itself to it in its representation of the nocturne. We will salute the impressive work of pianist Paul Goussot, who interpreted for 1h35 the different music of the work. Hat!
