A Woman of Paris (also known with the subtitle: A Drama of Fate) was Charlie Chaplin’s second directed feature. He made the odd choice, given how his fame was based on comedy, of wanting to direct a completely dramatic work and avoid comedy entirely. The film begins with the main character of Marie St. Clair, who was played by Chaplin regular Edna Purviance, gets locked out of her house by her stepfather for having a rendezvous with her lover, Jean. They decided to go to Paris to get married and begin a life there. But the night they are supposed to go, Jean’s father dies and he calls Marie to postpone the trip. She, however, leaves anyway. The film then picks up a short time later, where Marie is a mistress to a wealthy businessman (Pierre Revel) played by Adolphe Menjou. Marie then has to decide between Jean and Pierre once Jean arrives in Paris.
The beginning of the film shows Marie, depressed and locked in her room. The music that played in the film was domineering, overbearing and frankly, distracting. And the music played in this scene was the theme (or the piece of music that was played the most often) did not really reflect the tone of the scene or a lot of the other scenes. It was somewhat uplifting, rousing, and did not match what was shown on screen. Apparently, changing the music of the film was one of the last things Chaplin did before he died in 1977. The Criterion release does not include the original 1923 score but does include an alternate score from 2005 along with Chaplin’s revised 1976 score.
The drama unfortunately can take the viewer out of the story in this film. For me, I’m not a fan of melodramatic work, with really the only exception being when it is done in an over the top manner (like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)) where for the most part, the drama is over the top. It may have been how dramas of the time were done and what audiences were used to but today’s audiences might find it, like I did, too melodramatic.
One scene in the film that I really enjoyed was the party scene where the debauchery and the decadence of the Jazz Age/Roaring Twenties was on full display. In the scene, people are laughing, drinking profusely, and a woman’s dress is removed (consensually) in a very amusing manner. This scene is really the only comedic part of the film, and a reminder what type of performer/director Chaplin was at the time. The scene is a brief look into the bohemian lifestyle that Paris was famous for in the roaring twenties. Unfortunately, the scene doesn’t last long enough, but it is a nice reminder of a somewhat forgotten age of the past century (forgotten outside of certain fashion trends, at least).
I do hate to be quite negative about the film, especially when this article is supposed to be used to promote the film’s Criterion release, but I did not enjoy it. Chaplin’s bet big that a dramatic film with his name would do well, at the time it did quite poorly. Critical reappraisal has looked upon the film more favorably. Chaplin would later get better at making dramatic works with The Great Dictator (1940) and Limelight (1952). But his first dramatic feature falls very short of those films. There isn’t much that makes it unique, which is odd to say given that Chaplin, I have often found, has his own style and his films have remained relevant for a century in some cases. It is unfortunate how I felt about it given he is one of the greatest creative minds in film history, and I was very excited to watch it.
As mentioned above, the Criterion release includes an alternate score from 2005 by Timothy Brock. Also included are an introduction by David Robinson, a video essay by Jeffrey Vance, interviews with Liv Ullman and Michael Powell, and other special features. An essay by Pamela Hutchinson comes with the release as well.
A Woman in Paris is out now on Criterion Collection Blu-Ray
Ben’s Archive – A Woman of Paris (1923)
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