Marie Epstein facts for kids

Marie Epstein (born Marie-Antonine Epstein; August 14, 1899 – April 24, 1995) was a talented woman who worked in many areas of film. She was an actress, a writer for movies (called a scenarist), a film director, and someone who helped save old films.

Marie Epstein had a career with three main parts. In the 1920s, she acted in and wrote stories for films directed by her brother, Jean Epstein. Later, from the 1920s to the early 1950s, she worked with director Jean Benoît-Lévy. They made sixteen films together, where she wrote, helped direct, or co-directed. After that, from the early 1950s until she retired in 1977, Marie Epstein worked to preserve old films at the Cinémathèque française in Paris.

Marie Epstein's Film Career

Working with Jean Benoît-Lévy (1928-1940)

Marie Epstein is most famous for the movies she co-directed with Jean Benoît-Lévy in the 1930s. She moved away from the romantic stories she wrote for her brother. Instead, her films with Benoît-Lévy used new filmmaking styles from the 1920s.

They used these styles to explore big social problems in France during the 1930s. These problems included poverty, single mothers, and the struggles of women and children who were not treated well. Film expert Alan Williams noted that their films always showed how people had to make tough moral choices because of their social situations.

Their films were similar to a style called Poetic Realism common in French cinema then. However, they used more experimental editing techniques. For example, in La Maternelle (1933), a film about state-run nurseries, they used "subjective editing." This means the editing showed the traumatic feelings of a neglected child from a poor neighborhood.

Benoît-Lévy and Epstein's films also looked at social issues differently. Film scholar Ginette Vincendeau said that La Maternelle showed school as a way for people to become free, not as a place that held them back. This was different from other films of the time. Vincendeau and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster also pointed out that their films focused on challenges for women. They featured many strong female characters, which was unusual in French films back then.

Challenges During the 1940s

During the 1940s, Marie Epstein faced difficulties. She was arrested in February 1944. However, she was later released thanks to friends in the French film industry and the Red Cross, an organization she worked for. Because of these events, her filmmaking career stopped during this period.

Later Documentaries and Film Preservation (1950s-1977)

In the early 1950s, Marie Epstein worked as an assistant director. She helped Jean Benoît-Lévy make several short documentary films. In 1953, she directed her only film by herself, La Grande espérance. This was a documentary about atomic energy.

Starting in the early 1950s, Marie Epstein began a new important role. She worked to preserve silent films at the Cinémathèque française. This was under the guidance of Henri Langlois, a famous film historian. She is known for restoring Napoléon (1927) by Abel Gance. She also restored films made by her brother, Jean Epstein. She retired from the Cinémathèque in 1977.