Oh, that's a really really really precious document. The Duse in film. Nearly a miracle that it is possible today to catch a glimpse of this actress at all. It is true that in this document there are nearly no close ups at all - on the other hand exactly this is what makes this movie so exciting: The body is seen as a whole, and it seems that body and spirit in this former times were not yet so separated than it is unfortunately so common in our present times. Our modern civilization is fed up with close-ups, no imagination seems to have been left to us. The "distant" quality of Duse in this film gives her performance almost the quality of a vision. The friend which whom I saw this film for the first time pointed out that the effect created by the Italian actress is a very "aetherical" one. And at the same every movement, every gesture of her performance possesses weight: Duse seems to have been heavy and light at the same time - fascinating. What I found especially notable concerning Duse in this film is the fact that one should not believe that Duse is Italian by heritage: She looks rather Scandinavian - indeed, she could be a Norwegian. One of Duses greatest roles on stage was the Ellida in Ibsens "Woman of the Sea" - I understand perfectly why she had such a strong affinity especially to the work of Ibsen for she herself could have been stem from the same country... - One scene remains particularly unforgettable in my mind: The Duse on her knees, kneeing before her (film-) son: One feels an archaic power in this sad face, a loudness in her silence - unspoken dimensions are revealed - rarely if ever was a silent movie so loud. Than she gazes at her son - and what eyes, DIO MIO. Finally, the sad atmosphere of the scene is broken up: Suddenly a smile appears on Duses face, and the effect is so heart rendering that it makes you shiver. "Duse is the art itself", Gerhart Hauptmann one time wrote. Brava. "Cenere" is an important document, and I don't understand why this film is so unknown out of Italy. Once the most famous actress of her time - today nearly forgotten. But art has its own rights, and great art which have been forgotten, I'm sure, - it only sleeps...
