The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon
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''The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon'' (originally ''L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune'') is a French
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, w ...
made in 1907 by director
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 ...
.


Plot

A professor of
astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
gives a lecture instructing on an impending
solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...
. The class rushes to an observation tower to witness the event, which features an anthropomorphic Sun and
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
coming together. The Moon and the Sun lick their lips in anticipation as the eclipse arrives, culminating in a romantic encounter between the two celestial bodies. Various heavenly bodies, including planets and moons, hang in the night sky; a
meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extr ...
is depicted using the ghostly figures of girls. The professor of astronomy, shocked by all he has witnessed, topples from the observation tower. Fortunately, he lands in a rain barrel, and is revived by his students.


Themes

''The Eclipse'' has been remarked upon for its overt sexual symbolism. Christine Cornea posits that the film's primary theme, the clash of scientific logic with sexual desire, was also evident in Méliès' earlier films ''
A Trip to the Moon ''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel '' From the Earth to the Moon'' and its 187 ...
'' and '' The Impossible Voyage'', and would become a prominent in many subsequent
science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
films. Some scholars, interpreting the Sun and the Moon to be both male, have described the erotic "eclipse" as an early depiction of
homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...
in cinema, with an "effeminate" Moon being seduced by an "devilishly masculine" Sun. By contrast, Méliès's film catalogue describes the liaison in heterosexual terms, referring to the participants as "the man in the sun" and "dainty Diana" and using pronouns to match. Film critic William B. Parrill calls this courtship scene "a comic passage worthy of Ernst Lubitsch at his best … one of the great moments of silent comedy."


Production

Méliès appears in the film as the professor, with the actor Manuel as the class supervisor and Mademoiselle Bodson as a comet. Some scenes in ''The Eclipse'' were originally made by Méliès for a film commissioned for a revue at a Paris music hall,
La Cigale La Cigale (; English: ''The Cicada'') is a theatre located at 120, boulevard de Rochechouart near Place Pigalle, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The theatre is part of a complex connected to the Le Trabendo concert venue and the Boule Noi ...
. Special effects in ''The Eclipse'' were created with stage machinery, pyrotechnics,
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, superimpositions, dissolves, rolling scenery, and a mannequin for the professor's fall.


See also

* List of films featuring eclipses


References


External links

* * 1907 films 1900s science fiction films French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès French LGBT-related films French silent short films Moon in film Sun in film French science fiction films 1900s French films LGBT-related science fiction films Silent science fiction films {{1900s-France-film-stub