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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 905

La Souriante Madame Beudet

192338 minFrance
Drama

Synopsis

Madame Beudet finds little companionship in a marriage dominated by her husband's crude habits and repeated joke about an unloaded revolver. Alone one evening, she places a bullet in the weapon. Regret follows, but removing it proves difficult, turning a private act of desperation into suspense inside the same household that produced it.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: French.
This copy runs
41:53
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: French. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Germaine Dulac · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsGermaine Dulac

Historical context

Dulac uses subjective images and fantasy to give form to the wife's experience of confinement. The film's attention to her perspective has made it central to discussions of feminist work in early cinema.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

  • Germaine Dermoz — Unknown author Unknown author; This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b10501828t/f14 · Public domain

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