''Les victimes de l'alcoolisme'' ''( en, Alcohol and its victims)'' is a 1902 French short

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Ferdinand Zecca Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947) was a pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the international ...

, inspired by the 1877 naturalist novel

L'Assommoir ''L'Assommoir'' , published as a serial in 1876, and in book form in 1877, is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series ''Les Rougon-Macquart''. Usually considered one of Zola's masterpieces, the novel — a study of alcoholism and po ...

Emile Zola Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

. It is the first film inspired by this novel and one of first films aimed at fulfilling an objective of general social interest, in this case the fight against

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

.Review and link to watch the film:

Plot

The film is composed of five scenes introduced by intertitles: ''1. Interior of the happy and prosperous worker household'' A working-class family is living happily in a simple but comfortable house, a women, her mother and two children do their daily tasks and when the man of the house comes home, they all have dinner together. ''2. The first step to the wine merchant'' The husband meets in the street some friends who invite him to go and have a drink in a café. ''3. The ravages of alcohol. His wife picks him up at the cabaret'' In the café, the man drinks and plays dice with his friends. His wife comes with their children and insists that he must come home. He brutally pushes her away. ''4. In the attic. Misery.'' The family is now living in a dilapidated attic. When the man arrives, he has a fit of '' delirium tremens'' wiggling on the floor. ''5. The madhouse. Delirium tremens'' The man is locked in a padded cell, with a straitjacket. A raving maniac, he tears it apart, and dances wildly around the room before collapsing and remaining motionless.

Analysis

The five scenes are each composed of one single wide shot taken by a static camera in front of theatre-like sets. The intertitles introducing each of the scene use black letters on a light background. There is a jump cut in scene 4, the man appearing suddenly wiggling on the floor. This may be due to a lost fragment. This is the first film by

Pathé Frères Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest film equipme ...

including intertitles and one of the first in the world. ''Les victimes de l'alcoolisme'' is the first known cinematic adaptation of a novel by

. The book on which it is based, ''

'', would be the subject of a further three French cinematographic adaptations before the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, ''

'' in 1909,
Les Victimes de l'alcool
( en, In the Grip of Alcohol/Victims of Alcoholism)'' in 1911 and
Le Poison de l'humanité
( en, An Accursed Inheritance)'' in 1912. In America, a further adaptation would be directed by D.W. Griffith in 1909,
The Drunkard's reformation
'. This film has been singled out as enjoying the status of historical originality. "Described by French film historian

Georges Sadoul Georges Sadoul (4 February 1904 – 13 October 1967) was a French film critic, journalist and cinema writer. He is known for writing encyclopedias of film and filmmakers, many of which have been translated into English. Biography Sadoul was ...

as a ''

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

'' the Zola/Zecca narrative of the decline of a working class family due to the effects of chronic alcoholism and encroaching poverty has remained one of the most popular of all the naturalist texts to be adapted into film." This film is also one of the first example of cinema seen not only as entertainment, but as a media carrying a socially useful message. Dwight Vick notes that "''Les victimes de l'alcoolisme'' was the first attempt by the newly formed Pathé Company to exploit the burgeoning demand for anti-alcohol and anti-absinthe propaganda." Pathé itself emphasised this objective in its presentation of the film, which referred to the success of '' History of a Crime'' in 1901: "Encouraged by this first success, we are now presenting to our customers a play that is even more dramatic than the previous one, more interesting and above all much more moral, because it touches on a social plague that is becoming more and more pervasive by the day, we have named Alcoholism (...) we are convinced that by publishing this scene we will help the many anti-alcoholic and temperance societies who think, like us, that in order to fight this evil that is decimating humanity, example prevails over all laws. Is not the cinematograph above all the distraction and relaxation of the humble and the worker? Therefore, nothing better than the Cinematograph could help to demonstrate the ravages caused by alcoholism. Consequently, we are certain to achieve a twofold goal, firstly to interest our customers and secondly to help stop, as far as possible, this terrible evil (...)"Advertisement for the film published in ''L'Industriel Forain n°669'', 31/05/1902), quoted b
Victimes de l’alcoolisme – Zecca / Ferdinand – 1902''
a
Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé
(in French)

References

External links

*

at ttp://www.acinemahistory.com/ A Cinema History
Victimes de l’alcoolisme – Zecca / Ferdinand – 1902''
a
Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcohol and its victims 1902 films 1902 drama films French drama short films French black-and-white films Films based on works by Émile Zola Films about alcoholism Films directed by Ferdinand Zecca