La fontaine d'Aréthuse

This is based on one of three pieces composed for the violin by a Pole in 1915. The first of these was for whatever reason selected to be filmed and we have what a title card announces as a cinephonie. It's a rare piece of collaboration; Kirsanoff of Menilmontant teamed behind the camera with Boris Kaufman, the dp in Vigo's projects and brother of one Denis Kaufman (alias Dziga Vertov).

There's no story in the piece so what we see is Kirsanoff composing a few images to reflect it. A young river sprite or goddess dances naked by the river, a young hunter chances upon her and she takes flight. It's one of the oldest dreams of mankind.

But that's an opportunity for a few images. The music is a gentle lilt that simmers. The images lilt between reflections; alabaster body reflected on waters, a frightful chase through the woods. The girl vanishes in thin air, returning to the ether of the imagination. The boy is swallowed up by waters, her element. It ends with a violinist, the source of the imagining, superimposed on simmering waters.

It's gentle work that glistens for a few brief moments.