Le mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans

Part melodrama and part comedy , this silent movie begins like some documentary about Belgium. The grandiose double wedding filmed on location but its pomposity is reduced by the hilarious sentence :" what an ostracism!" , which the wealthy brewer Beulemans shouts to the crowd,without knowing the meaning of the word.

A word he learned from Delpierre,an educated young French who has come to Belgium to initiate himself into the art of brewery and fallen in love with the boss' daughter ,Suzanne ,who has another suitor.

Apart from the finale on Bruxelles boulevards ,there are many other good scenes with a fine mastery of the picture:

The pipes contest ,in a room so smoky you hardly see the faces which the camera films in close shot.

The domestic quarrel between the Beulemans ,filmed with a stunning livelyness.

The scenes with the baby give the movie a touch of poetry and emotion .

This is an interesting work from Monsieur Julien Duvivier ,my favorite French director of all time .