Epstein, Marie (c. 1899–1995)

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Epstein, Marie (c. 1899–1995)

French screenwriter and director. Born Marie-Antoine Epstein in Warsaw, Poland, around 1899; died in Paris, France, in 1995; sister and partner of Jean Epstein; partner of Jean Benoit-Lévy.

Filmography:

L'Affiche (1924); Le Double de Amour (1925); Six et Demi-onze (1927); Ames d'enfants(1928); Peau de péche (1929); Maternité (1929); Le Coeur de Paris (1931); La Maternelle (1933); Itto (1934); Helene (1936); La Mort du cygne (1937); Ballerina (1937); Altitude 3200 (1938); Le Feu de paille (1939); Le Grande esperance (1953).

Although Marie Epstein was one of the most important screenwriter-directors in the early avant-garde cinema in France, she is often ignored or overshadowed by her two collaborators, her brother, Jean Epstein (c. 1897–1953), and director, Jean Benoit-Lévy (1888–1959). The disregard of Epstein from film histories "necessitates a kind of foregrounding of her activity to redress the balance and involves a work of reconstruction as well," writes film historian Sally Flitterman-Lewis . Epstein apparently was born in Warsaw to a Jewish-French father and a Polish mother. The family immigrated to France while the children were in their teens. Marie began her career in film as an assistant director and actress in her brother's Coeur fidele in 1923. Subsequently, she wrote several screenplays he directed which are considered among his best work. But Epstein's most important collaboration was with Jean Benoit-Lévy, with whom she shared a director credit on several films, including Ames d'enfants (1928), Peau de péche (1929), Maternité (1929) and La Maternelle (1933). Adapted from a novel by Leon Frapie, La Maternelle is considered one of the best early French sound films.

Her work is best known for combining social issues with poetic imagery and creative cinematic techniques. In particular, she was concerned with the plight of poor children and disadvantaged women. The poignant La Maternelle is told from the point of view of an impoverished woman who is about to commit suicide. During the climactic scene, the character looks directly into the camera, as if to implicate the audience in her plight. This was one of the earliest uses of the technique known as "breaking the fourth wall."

During the Nazi occupation of France, Jean Epstein was barred from the studios by the Vichy regime. Apparently both brother and sister were arrested by the Gestapo but were saved from deportation or worse through the efforts of friends and the intervention of the Red Cross.

Following World War II, Marie Epstein made a documentary on atomic energy called La Grande esperance (1953). Until her retirement in 1977, she worked as a film preservationist at Cinémathèque Française where she painstakingly restored some of her brother's silent films as well as the renowned Napoleon by director Abel Gance. One of her last appearances was in a documentary released in 1995 called Citizen Langlois. Directed by Edgardo Cozarinsky, the film is about the founding of the Cinémathèque Française by director Henri Langlois (1914–1977).