About

Known credits:
78
Birthday:
1897-03-25
Place of birth:
Warszawa, Russian Empire [now Poland]
Website:
N/A

Jean Epstein

Overview

Jean Epstein (French: [ɛp.ʃtajn]; 25 March 1897 – 2 April 1953) was a French filmmaker, film theorist, literary critic, and novelist. Although he is remembered today primarily for his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher, he directed three dozen films and was an influential critic of literature and film from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. He is often associated with French Impressionist Cinema and the concept of photogénie.

Epstein was born in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland (then a part of Russian Empire) to a French-Jewish father and Polish mother. After his father died in 1908, the family relocated to Switzerland, where Epstein remained until beginning medical school at the University of Lyon in France. While in Lyon, Epstein served as a secretary and translator for Auguste Lumière, considered one of the founders of cinema.

Epstein started directing his own films in 1922 with Pasteur, followed by L'Auberge rouge and Coeur fidèle (both 1923). Film director Luis Buñuel worked as an assistant director to Epstein on Mauprat (1926) and La Chute de la maison Usher (1928). Epstein's criticism appeared in the early modernist journal L'Esprit Nouveau. During the making of Coeur fidèle Epstein chose to film a simple story of love and violence "to win the confidence of those, still so numerous, who believe that only the lowest melodrama can interest the public", and also in the hope of creating "a melodrama so stripped of all the conventions ordinarily attached to the genre, so sober, so simple, that it might approach the nobility and excellence of tragedy". He wrote the scenario in a single night.

Epstein had been much impressed by Abel Gance's recently completed La Roue, and in Coeur fidèle he sought to apply its techniques of rapid and rhythmic editing as well as the innovative use of close-ups and superimpositions of images. These techniques are most apparent during the first half of the film: the opening sequence establishing Marie's situation in the harbour bar through a series of close-ups of her face, her hands, the table and glasses that she is cleaning; the use of images of the sea and the port, either intercut or superimposed, to convey the yearnings of Jean and Marie; and the film's most celebrated sequence at the fairground in which a highly complex series of rhythmically assembled images charts the tension of the relationship between Marie and Petit Paul. The later scenes of the film are relatively conventional in the techniques employed and depend more upon situation and action than upon photography and processing of the images. In the 1920s, Epstein's works would display influences from German Expressionism. Epstein also made several documentaries about Brittany. Chanson d'Armor is known as the first Breton-speaking film in history. His two novels also take place in Breton isles: L'Or des mers in Ouessant and Les Recteurs et la sirène in Sein.

Epstein died in 1953 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Known for

Acting
2011 Jean Epstein, Young Oceans of Cinema Actor Self (archive footage) N/A
N/A
1978 Jean Epstein or Cinema by Itself Actor (archival footage) N/A
N/A

Directing
2016 Song of Armorica Directing Director 59
Average
1953 Efforts de productivité dans la fonderie Directing Director N/A
N/A
1948 Lights That Never Fail Directing Director 58
Average
1947 The Storm-Tamer Directing Director 59
Average
1939 Artères de France Directing Director N/A
N/A
1938 La relève Directing Director N/A
N/A
1938 Eau vive Directing Director N/A
N/A
1938 The Woman at the End of the World Directing Director 58
Average
1938 The Builders Directing Director N/A
N/A
1937 Vive la vie Directing Director N/A
N/A
1936 La Bretagne Directing Director N/A
N/A
1936 La Bourgogne Directing Director N/A
N/A
1936 Heart of Tramp Directing Director N/A
N/A
1935 Marius and Olive in Paris Directing Director N/A
N/A
1934 La Vie d'un grand journal Directing Director N/A
N/A
1934 The Lady of Lebanon Directing Director N/A
N/A
1933 Gold of the Seas Directing Director 59
Average
1933 The Man with the Hispano Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 The Villanelle of Ribbons Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 La chanson des peupliers Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 Le Cor Directing Director N/A
N/A
1932 The Cradles Directing Director 59
Average
1931 Le vieux chaland Directing Director N/A
N/A
1931 Notre-Dame de Paris Directing Director N/A
N/A
1930 Le pas de la mule Directing Director N/A
N/A
1930 The Sea of Ravens Directing Director 59
Average
1929 Finis Terræ Directing Director 59
Average
1929 His Head Directing Director 59
Average
1928 The Fall of the House of Usher Directing Director 61
Fair
1927 Six and a Half by Eleven Directing Director 58
Average
1927 The Three-Sided Mirror Directing Director 59
Average
1926 Mauprat Directing Director 58
Average
1926 In the Land of George Sand Directing Director N/A
N/A
1925 The Adventures of Robert Macaire Directing Director 59
Average
1925 Double Love Directing Director 58
Average
1925 The Poster Directing Director N/A
N/A
1925 Photogenies Directing Director N/A
N/A
1924 The Lion of the Moguls Directing Director 58
Average
1924 The Drop Of Blood Directing Director N/A
N/A
1924 La Belle Nivernaise Directing Director 58
Average
1923 Cœur fidèle Directing Director 60
Fair
1923 The Infidel Mountain Directing Director N/A
N/A
1923 The Red Inn Directing Director 58
Average
1922 Les vendanges Directing Director N/A
N/A
1922 Pasteur Directing Director 58
Average

Writing
2021 Tempest Writing Original Story 59
Average
1947 The Storm-Tamer Writing Writer 59
Average
1938 Eau vive Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1938 The Woman at the End of the World Writing Writer 58
Average
1935 Marius and Olive in Paris Writing Dialogue N/A
N/A
1934 The Lady of Lebanon Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1933 The Man with the Hispano Writing Screenplay N/A
N/A
1932 The Villanelle of Ribbons Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1932 La chanson des peupliers Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1932 Le Cor Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1931 Le vieux chaland Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1930 The Sea of Ravens Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1929 Finis Terræ Writing Writer 59
Average
1929 His Head Writing Writer 59
Average
1928 The Fall of the House of Usher Writing Writer 61
Fair
1927 The Three-Sided Mirror Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1926 Mauprat Writing Writer 58
Average
1925 Double Love Writing Writer 58
Average
1925 The Poster Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1924 The Lion of the Moguls Writing Writer 58
Average
1924 La Belle Nivernaise Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1923 Cœur fidèle Writing Writer 60
Fair
1923 The Red Inn Writing Screenplay 58
Average

Production
1936 La Bretagne Production Producer N/A
N/A
1928 The Fall of the House of Usher Production Producer 61
Fair
1927 Six and a Half by Eleven Production Producer 58
Average
1926 Mauprat Production Producer 58
Average
1925 Photogenies Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A

Editing
1947 The Storm-Tamer Editing Editor 59
Average
1924 The Lion of the Moguls Editing Editor 58
Average
1924 La Belle Nivernaise Editing Editor 58
Average