Literally all I knew about this French short silent film is that it appeared in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I would never have known about it otherwise, I hoped it would be worthwhile. Basically Madame Beudet (Germaine Dermoz) is an intelligent woman, she lives a quiet mundane life, the most exciting thing that ever happens is receiving the mail, and she is trapped in a loveless marriage. Her husband Monsieur Beudet (Alexandre Arquillière) frequently plays stupid practical jokes on her, one of the most frequent being to have an empty revolver and threatening to shoot himself. One day, while her husband is away, following an argument for refusing to join him to a night at the opera, Madame Beudet secretly places bullets into the gun, hoping that when he plays the same practical joke again he will accidentally kill himself. However Madame Beudet is filled with guilt and has a sleepless night, she tries to retrieve the gun and remove the bullets, but the next morning her husband already has the gun in his hand. Monsieur Beudet thinks the gun chambers are empty as usual, and this time he aims the gun at her and fires, the bullet misses her, he thinks she was trying to commit suicide, he embraces Madame Beudet, saying "How could I live without you?". Also starring Jean d'Yd as Monsieur Labas, Madeleine Guitty as Madame Labas and Raoul Paoli as Le Champion de Tennis. It is a somewhat forgotten film, hence not many critical reviews, it is a simple story of a woman who has become tired of her husband's foolish antics, it is considered as one of the earliest "feminist" films, it is interesting enough that it probably should be seen by more who appreciate early cinema, a watchable impressionist silent film. Good!
Review of The Smiling Madame Beudet
