The Smiling Madame Beudet

film by Dulac [1923]

Also known as: “La Souriante Madame Beudet”

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July 23, 2026

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The Smiling Madame Beudet is a 1923 silent film directed by Germaine Dulac, a pioneering French filmmaker known for her impressionistic and experimental works. The film stars Germaine Dermoz as Madame Beudet, a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage with her boorish husband, played by Alexandre Arquillière.

Dulac employed a range of cinematic techniques to portray the conflict between the couple, including extreme close-ups and dream sequences featuring double exposures and stop motion. The film is noted for its exploration of psychological themes and its portrayal of inner life through visual imagery, characteristic of Dulac's approach to cinema as an art form akin to music.12

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Germaine Dulac
Silent cinema
In The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923), the title character (played by Germaine Dermoz) is trapped in a marriage to a boorish husband (Alexandre Arquillière) who often makes a tasteless joke about suicide by pointing an unloaded pistol at his head. Dulac embodies the conflict between the…
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In The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923), the title character (played by Germaine Dermoz) is trapped in a marriage to a boorish husband (Alexandre Arquillière) who often makes a tasteless joke about suicide by pointing an unloaded pistol at his head. Dulac embodies the conflict between the…
Read More