03 March 2020

La déserteuse (1917)

In our 'Spanish Chocolate series', EFSP presents a film special on the Gaumont production La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917). Stars were Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté. Chocolate Pi produced a series of six cards on the film of which the Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.

René Cresté in La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 1. Photo: Gaumont. René Cresté in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté in La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 2. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 3. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor and Olinda Mano in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

Paying her fault with her death


Little is known about La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917), but at the backs of the collectors cards the plot is written. We've translated the Spanish text.

Solange de Gensac (Yvette Andreyor) is unhappily married to a man her parents chose. Her only reason for joy is her daughter Lucille (Olinda Mano). One day, she is visited by her youth friend, the navy officer Olivier de Esparre (René Cresté), whom she once secretly loved. He asks her to reconsider her marriage, but she answers she is still a mother.

However, when one night she sees her husband embracing another woman, she gives Gensac an ultimatum. He laughs it away, so she leaves him with her daughter. Yet, Oliver's work forces him to leave for Peking, so she decides to accompany him. When they are about to take the train though, the child's governess comes alone, as her husband has claimed the child.

Ten years after, Solange and Oliver have returned and live on the Côte d'Azur. Solange's heart has kept bleeding like it did that fatal night on the station. Because of a car accident she is escorted by a governess to a villa of an American couple, who happen to host Lucille. Solange is overjoyed to meet her daughter again, and substitutes as governess to Lucille, but the joy is cut short when the arrival of her ex is announced - so she disappears again in the dark, but not after confessing to Mrs. Davis her tragedy.

Solange gets more and more ill and begs her friend to bring Lucille to her. The husband, though, brutally denies a dying woman her last wish. It is Mrs. Davis, however, who brings Lucille to her dying mother, even if the girl doesn't know who she is. Solange has her last ecstasy seeing her daughter and smelling her flowers. Olivier asks Gensac how he will live on with his guilt, as Solange has paid her fault with her death.

Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 4. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 5. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

René Cresté and Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (1917)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 6 (of six cards). Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917).

Sources: Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

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