''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' (french: Tentation de Saint Antoine) is an 1898 French

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...

. The film, featuring Méliès and his frequent collaborator

Jehanne d'Alcy Charlotte Lucie Marie Adèle Stephanie Adrienne Faës (20 March 1865 – 14 October 1956), known by her stage name Jeanne d'Alcy or Jehanne d'Alcy, was a French film actress. Biography D'Alcy had achieved success in theatrical productions by 1 ...

, is a version of the traditional artistic subject of the temptation of Saint Anthony, showing

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

's faith and chastity tested by visions.

Synopsis

Saint Anthony's devotions in a cave are disrupted by sudden appearances from young women, whom he banishes in attempts to return to his prayer book. The saint kisses a skull relic only for it to transform into a woman, who is rejoined by the others to encircle him before vanishing. The saint kneels before an image of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

on the cross, only for this to transform into one of the women. He is finally saved by the appearance of an

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

who returns all to normal.

Production

The popular artistic subject of Saint Anthony's temptation had already been filmed in 1896 by

Eugène Pirou Louis Eugène Pirou (26 September 1841 – 30 September 1909) was a French photographer and filmmaker, known primarily for his portraits of celebrities and scenes from the Paris Commune. He was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle ...

, including the imagery in which the crucified Christ is transformed into a temptress. In Méliès's version, he himself plays Saint Anthony, and

appears as one of the three temptresses. The special effects are worked using

multiple exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be ide ...

s and

substitution splice The substitution splice or stop trick is a cinematic special effect in which filmmakers achieve an appearance, disappearance, or transformation by altering one or more selected aspects of the mise-en-scène between two shots while maintaining th ...

s. The cave backdrop is an early forerunner, in broad high-contrast brushwork, of the intricate grotto sets that feature in many later Méliès films.

Themes

''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' is one of two Méliès films with a religious main theme; the other, ''

The Devil in a Convent ''The Devil in a Convent'' (French: ''Le Diable au couvent''), released in the UK as ''"The Sign of the Cross", or the Devil in a Convent'', is an 1899 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. Themes According to some film critic ...

'', was released the following year. Both films have a strong anti-clerical bent, with film historian John Frazer commenting that ''The Temptation'' "is interesting because of its satiric, even heretical overtones". Méliès almost certainly agreed with the anti-ecclesiastic emotions prevalent during the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

in 1898 and 1899; Méliès supported

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

's case, accurately judging him to be innocent of his supposed crimes, while the Church opposed Dreyfus. Méliès's film series '' The Dreyfus Affair'', made during the same period, likewise took a strongly pro-Dreyfus stance.

Release

''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' was completed in the winter of 1898–1899. It was released by Méliès's

Star Film Company The Manufacture de films pour cinématographes, often known as Star Film, was a French film production company run by the illusionist and film director Georges Méliès. History On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended the celebrated first publi ...

and numbered 169 in its catalogues; the earliest English-language listing gives the title as ''Temptation of Saint Anthony'', without an initial article. According to Méliès's later recollections, when the film was shown at one Paris fairground, the Foire du Trône on the Cours de Vincennes, the Prefect of Police took umbrage at the sacrilege and had the film removed from the bill.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Temptation of Saint Anthony, The French silent short films French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès Cultural depictions of Anthony the Great French drama films 1890s drama films 1898 short films 1890s French films Silent drama films Films about angels