''The Whirlpool of Fate'' or ''The Girl of the Water'' (French: ''La Fille de l'eau'') is a 1925 French silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...

and starring

Catherine Hessling Catherine Hessling (born Andrée Madeleine Heuschling; 22 June 1900 – 28 September 1979) was a French actress and the first wife of film director Jean Renoir. Hessling appeared in 15, mostly silent, films before retiring from the acting prof ...

as its heroine. All of the French copies of this film have been

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

but English copies continue to exist with complete copies of the

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s (albeit in English). The intertitles have been translated back into French so that modern viewers in France can still enjoy the film in a way that is as close as possible to the original as it originally screened.IMDB entry
/ref>

Plot

In an age of

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

s and

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s, the movie takes place in the late 19th century. The scene opens with the slow progress of a barge making its way down a canal that is lined with oak trees. The heroine's brutish father, a pole man, is somehow knocked off the barge, where he disappears under the serene and still surface of the water. The camera lingers on the water, perhaps to detect a bubble or two rise from below, but nothing can be seen of the pole man's last breath. The death is purely by accident, and although a rescue effort is mounted, his body is not recovered until the next morning. Reduced to poverty from the loss of her father, the heroine falls back upon her own resources to eke out a simple living by stealing. She happens upon a rogue who has a similar lifestyle, and they join for a few brief acts of criminal mischief, but he is far more abandoned to petty crimes than she is. A classic case of mistaken identity leads to the heroine being accused of setting fire to a French peasant's haystack. Alarmed, the farmer peasant races to all his neighbors to help put the fire out. A wheeled water wagon is rushed from the village fire station to the scene of the crime, but no one can put out the fire. The peasants think she started the fire, and rush over to her gypsy wagon, and torch it. A macabre fire dance ensues as the locals dance around the burning gypsy wagon, shaking their fists at the wagon, not knowing if someone is inside it.

Cast

as Virginia Rosaert * Charlotte Clasis as Madame Maubien *

Pierre Champagne Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

as Justin Crepoix * Maurice Touzé as La Fuine *

Georges Térof Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

as Monsieur Raynal *

Madame Fockenberghe Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

as Madame Raynal * Harold Levingston as Georges Raynal *

André Derain André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse. Biography Early years Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. I ...

as Patron du 'Bon Coin' *

Van Doren Van Doren is a toponymic surname of Dutch origin and a variation of Van Doorn. Notable people with the surname include: * Carl Clinton Van Doren (1885–1950), Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, brother of Mark Van Doren * Charles Van Doren (19 ...

as Young lover * Pierre Lestringuez as Jef *

Henriette Moret Henriette may refer to: *Princess Henriette of France *Henriette of Cleves *Henriette Willemina Crommelin (1870-1957), Dutch labor leader and temperance reformer *Henriette Dibon (1902–1989), French poet and short story writer. *Henriette Hansen ...

as La Roussette *

Pierre Renoir Pierre Renoir (March 21, 1885 – March 11, 1952) was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first ...

as Farmer

References

Bibliography

* O'Shaughnessy, Martin. ''Jean Renoir''. Manchester University Press, 20 October 2000.

External links

''The Whirlpool of Fate'' at IMDB
French silent feature films 1925 films Films directed by Jean Renoir French black-and-white films 1920s French-language films French drama films 1925 drama films Canals in fiction Silent drama films 1920s French films {{1920s-France-film-stub