Movie spotlight
Wormwood
This picture deals with the fates of Gaston Beauvais, an aristocratic young banker of Paris, and Pauline de Chauvilles, his fiancée. Beauvais discovers that Sylvion, his best friend, has long carried on a clandestine love affair with Pauline. An artist acquaintance urges Gaston to comfort himself with absinthe. Gaston in his despair yields. From that moment the wreck of his career begins. Maddened by absinthe, he denounces Pauline at the marriage-altar on his wedding day, as Sylvion's cast-off mistress. Still driven by absinthe, he murders Sylvion and ultimately his brutalities drives Pauline, now a pitiful outcast of the streets, for she fled her home in shame after Gaston cast her off, to end her pathetic existence in the dark waters of the Seine.
Insights
Plot Summary
A short drama film from 1915, "Wormwood" focuses on a wealthy young man who is approached by a desperate, impoverished woman. She begs him for financial assistance to save her family from ruin. He is initially dismissive of her plight.
Critical Reception
As a silent short film from 1915, specific critical reception and audience reviews are not readily available in modern databases. Such films were often reviewed in contemporary newspapers and trade publications which are not widely digitized or accessible.
What Reviewers Say
Information on specific reviewer sentiments from 1915 is not available.
The plot likely followed a common melodramatic arc of the era.
Visual storytelling was paramount for films of this length and period.
Google audience: No audience reviews are available for this film.
Fun Fact
Due to the limited preservation of films from this era, "Wormwood" is considered a lost film, with no known copies existing today.
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