He Who Gets Slapped

(He Who Gets Slapped)

Dir. Victor Sjöström (Victor Seastrom); script Victor Sjöström, Carey Wilson, based on Leonid Andreyev’s play He Who Gets Slapped; cinemat. Milton Moore

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, USA, 1924

Cast: Lon Chaney (Paul Beaumont), Norma Shearer (Consuelo), Marc McDermott (Baron Regnard)

  DCP, 95’, bw, intertitles/subtitles: EN/PL, source: George Eastman Museum

Paul Beaumont is a scientist whose years of research are finally on the verge of bearing fruit. But he is then betrayed by both his wife and his patron, Baron Regnard, who claims Beaumont's discoveries as his own and publicly humiliates him by striking him across the face. The only thing left for the betrayed man to do is take on the role of a circus clown, known as 'He who gets slapped'. While working in the circus, he falls in love with Consuelo, a beautiful horseback acrobat who may also be about to fall prey to the Baron's machinations.

Based on the play by Leonid Andreyev, this is one of the finest American films made by Victor Sjöström, a pioneer and master of the Swedish school, who went to the USA in 1923 at the invitation of Louis B. Mayer.

A moving study of humiliation, and possibly the most chilling film in this year's line-up, this story of the betrayed scientist evokes terror not through references to the supernatural or the macabre but by focusing on seemingly simple fears in which the viewer can find an uncomfortable reflection of contemporary social life. Drawing on the fatalistic spirit of its Russian literary source (the play had proved a big hit in New York theatres just before the film was made), the director arouses feelings of unease by depicting the fragile nature of human fate, constantly threatened by the petty malice of others. As the main protagonist's fate shows, the arduous path to glory can at one point lead to the depths of humiliation, with the victim of violence in clown make-up reduced to the butt of a cruel joke. There is no hope here for a happy ending or narrative justice, even if an opportunity for revenge does arise.

The film was hailed by critics, who especially praised Lon Chaney's moving performance. An outstanding actor of the silent era and a master of disguise (known as "the man with a thousand faces"), Chaney shines in this dark, suspense-laden movie.
                                                                                                  

Mateusz Myszka

  music: Titanic Sea Moon

  SUNDAY | DECEMBER 1 | 17:30

introduction to the movie: Katarzyna Wajda