description La Roue Overview
Abel Gance’s *La Roue* (The Wheel) is a significant 1923 French silent film. This dramatic feature utilizes innovative cinematography including complex camera movements and rapid editing to create a powerful railway-themed narrative. The film's ambitious scope and visual experimentation established Gance as a key figure in early cinema. It remains notable for its influence on subsequent filmmakers and is of interest to those studying the history of silent film and cinematic technique.
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Who directed La Roue and when was it made?
La Roue is a French silent film directed by Abel Gance, originally released in 1923. Gance is also famous for his 1927 epic Napoleon, but La Roue is considered his most technically radical work.
What is the story of La Roue?
The film follows Sisif, a railway engineer living in the French Alps who rescues an orphaned girl named Norma after a train crash and raises her as his daughter. As Norma grows up, both Sisif and his son Elie develop an obsessive, tragic attachment to her, leading to melodramatic consequences.
Why is La Roue important in film history?
La Roue is celebrated for its groundbreaking use of rapid montage and accelerated cutting during emotional climaxes, techniques that prefigured the work of later Soviet montage theorists like Sergei Eisenstein. Gance's innovative use of rhythmic editing to convey psychological states was virtually unprecedented in 1923.
How long is the original version of La Roue?
The original cut was extraordinarily long, reportedly running around nine hours, and was shown in multiple parts over successive evenings. Modern restorations typically run about four-and-a-half hours, and the most widely available versions are the ones Gance himself shortened for later releases.
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