Two sequences stand out above all others, and both exhibit the bodily eloquence of Lillian Gish. The first is when she is acting out her lover’s play for a wealthy sleaze-ball that might be able to arrange funding for the production. Like the patron, the camera is still. Both gazes are fixed upon Gish as she dashes about, pantomiming sword-play, dialogue, romance – the entire spectacle of the play concentrated into the excited gestures of a boisterous young woman. The patron looks on with lust; the camera with adoration and humility. The man sees only the potential for corruption; the camera sees a physical manifestation of some aspect of the human spirit that cannot be contained.
The second moment is towards the end of the film. On her deathbed, Gish is struck with the desire to see her former lover (the playwright) once more. Too weak to walk, she latches on to a passing carriage, which drags her limp body through the cold streets of Paris. In her sagging posture one witnesses the conflict between spirit and the physical weight of the body. For her final scene, Gish is said to have gone without liquids for three days, going so far as to even put cotton balls in her mouth at night to absorb any saliva. The vitality and force for life exhibited in her earlier pantomime is here used for death. Gish’s strength as an actress was her willingness to use her physical presence as an artistic instrument. Her gestures bore the wisdom of poetry.
by Cullen Gallagher | Source: Turner Classic Movies Broadcast
09 Oct 2008 11:38 AM | Submit Comment
