Summary

“On leaving the theatre one has the impression of having witnessed the birth of a new art.” – Adolf Loos

Flicker Alley and Lobster Films are proud to present this groundbreaking landmark of artistic collaboration and avant-garde design, newly-restored with two original scores from Aidje Tafial and the Alloy Orchestra, in its North American DCP and Blu-ray premiere.

Released to intense controversy in 1924 for its cinematic and technical innovations, L’Inhumaine (The Inhuman Woman) is a visual tour-de-force; a fantastical, science-fiction melodrama; and a momentous collaboration of legendary figures from the avant-garde movement. Directed by Marcel L’Herbier (L’Argent, Feu Mathias Pascal) and starring the famous French opera singer Georgette Leblanc – who helped produce the film along with L’Herbier’s company, Cinégraphic – L’Inhumaine is most notable for the style of filmmaking. In L’Herbier’s words, it represents a “miscellany of modern art,” bringing together some of the greatest artists from the time period, including painter Fernand Léger, architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, glassmaker René Lalique, fashion designer Paul Poiret, and directors Alberto Cavalcanti and Claude Autant-Lara, among others, to create a collaborative cinematic experience.

Leblanc plays the “Inhuman Woman” of the title, Claire Lescot, who lives on the outskirts of Paris, where she draws important men to her like moths to a flame. At her luxurious parties, she basks in the amorous attentions of her many admirers while always remaining aloof. When it appears she is the reason for a young devotee’s suicide, however, her fans desert her. The filming of the concert where she’s raucously booed is a renowned piece of cinema history: L’Herbier invited more than 2,000 people from the arts and fashionable society to attend the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and play the part of the unruly audience. Among the attendees were Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Erik Satie, René Clair, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound (although none are actually visible).

For this brand-new restoration, Lobster Films – with the support of Marie-Ange L’Herbier (the director’s daughter), the French CNC, SACEM and Maison Hermès – utilized the original nitrate negative, scanned at a pristine 4K resolution, and restored the original tints for the first time since the film’s release. The Blu-ray features two audacious new scores, one from percussionist Aidje Tafial and the other by the Alloy Orchestra. With optional English subtitles to the original French intertitles, Flicker Alley and Lobster Films are proud to present L’Inhumaine in an edition that does justice to the dazzling beauty of L’Herbier’s landmark vision.

L’Inhumaine is available on DCP and Blu-ray.

For more information about renting L’Inhumaine for your theater, please click on the Request Screening button below.