Jeanne Roques (23 February 1889 – 11 December 1957), known professionally as Musidora, was a French actress, film director, and writer. She is best known for her acting in
silent films
A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
, and rose to public attention for roles in the
Louis Feuillade
Louis Feuillade (; 19 February 1873 – 25 February 1925) was a French filmmaker of the silent film, silent era. Between 1906 and 1924, he directed over 630 films. He is primarily known for the crime serial film, serials ''Fantômas (1913 ser ...
serials ''
Les Vampires
''Les Vampires'' () is a 1915–1916 French Silent film, silent Crime film, crime serial film written and directed by Louis Feuillade. Set in Paris, it stars Édouard Mathé, Musidora and Marcel Lévesque. The main characters are a journalist an ...
'' as Irma Vep and in ''
Judex
Judex (real name Jacques de Trémeuse) is a fictional French vigilante hero created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède for the 1916 silent film '' Judex''. Judex (whose name is Latin for "judge") is a mysterious avenger who dresses in black ...
'' as Marie Verdier.
Early life
Born Jeanne Roques in Paris, France to music composer and theorist of socialism Jacques Roques and painter and feminist Adèle Clémence Porchez, Musidora began her career in the arts at an early age, writing her first novel at the age of fifteen and acting on the stage with the likes of
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...
, one of her lifelong friends. During the very early years of
French cinema
The cinema of France comprises the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe, with prima ...
Musidora began a professional collaboration with the highly successful French film director
Louis Feuillade
Louis Feuillade (; 19 February 1873 – 25 February 1925) was a French filmmaker of the silent film, silent era. Between 1906 and 1924, he directed over 630 films. He is primarily known for the crime serial film, serials ''Fantômas (1913 ser ...
. She made her film debut in ''Les miseres de l'aiguille'', directed by Raphael Clamour, in January 1914. The film highlights the problems of the urban women in the French working-class, and presents a new representation of the female even by the working-class movement in the early 20th century in France.
Adopting the moniker of Musidora (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
for "gift of the muses"), after the heroine in
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
's novel ''Fortunio'', and affecting a unique
vamp persona that would be popularized in the United States by actress
Theda Bara
Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...
at about the same time, Musidora soon found a foothold in the nascent medium of moving pictures. With her heavily
kohled dark eyes, somewhat sinister make-up, pale skin and exotic wardrobes, Musidora quickly became a highly popular and instantly recognizable presence of European cinema.
Stardom

Beginning in 1915, Musidora began appearing in the successful Feuillade-directed serial ''Les Vampires'' as Irma Vep (an anagram of "vampire"), a cabaret singer, opposite
Édouard Mathé
Édouard Mathé (; 1886–1934) was a French silent film actor.
He starred in some 51 films between 1914 and 1924.
Mathe appeared ''Barabbas'' in 1920. He regularly appeared in films directed by Louis Feuillade, such as the 1915 '' Les Vamp ...
as crusading journalist Philippe Guerande. Contrary to the title, ''Les Vampires'' was not actually about vampires, but about a criminal-gang-run-secret-society inspired by the exploits of the real-life
Bonnot Gang
The Bonnot Gang (''La Bande à Bonnot''), or The Tragic Bandits (''Les Bandes Tragiques''), was a French criminal anarchist group that operated in France and Belgium during the late ''Belle Époque'' from 1911 to 1912. Composed of individuals wh ...
. Vep, besides playing a leading role in the Vampires' crimes, also spends two episodes under the hypnotic control of Moreno, a rival criminal who makes her his lover and induces her to assassinate the Grand Vampire.
The series was an immediate success with French cinema-goers and ran in 10 installments until 1916. After the ''Les Vampires'' serial, Musidora starred as adventuress Diana Monti (aka governess "Marie Verdier") in ''
Judex
Judex (real name Jacques de Trémeuse) is a fictional French vigilante hero created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède for the 1916 silent film '' Judex''. Judex (whose name is Latin for "judge") is a mysterious avenger who dresses in black ...
'', another popular Feuillade serial filmed in 1916 but delayed for release until 1917. Though not intended to be
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
, ''Les Vampires'' and ''Judex'' were lauded by
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...
and
Andre Breton in the 1920s for the films' elements of surprise, fantasy/science fiction, unexpected juxtapositions and visual ''non sequiturs.'' Filmmakers
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
,
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
,
Georges Franju
Georges Franju (; 12 April 1912 – 5 November 1987) was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine.
Biography Early life
Before working in French cinema, Franju held several different jobs. These included working for an ins ...
,
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct short films including '' Night and Fog ...
, and
Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas (; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning Period Piece Films, period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, an ...
have cited ''Les Vampires'' and ''Judex'' as influencing them in their desires to become directors.
Other works
At a time when many women in the film industry were confined to acting, Musidora achieved a degree of success as a producer and director. Musidora became a film producer and director under the tutelage of her mentor, Louis Feuillade. Between the late 1910s and early 1920s, she directed ten films, all of which are lost with the exception of two: 1922's ''Soleil et Ombre'' and 1924's ''La Terre des Taureaux'', both of which were filmed in Spain. In Italy, she produced and directed ''La Flamme Cachee'' based on the work of her friend
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...
. In the same year, she co-wrote (with Colette) and co-directed (with Eugenio Perego) ''La vagabonda'' based on Colette's
novel of the same name.
Later life

After her career as an actress faded, she focused on writing and producing. Her last film was an homage to her mentor Feuillade titled ''La Magique Image'' in 1950, which she both directed and starred in. Late in her life, she would occasionally work in the ticket booth of the
Cinémathèque Française
A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
—few patrons realized that the older woman in the foyer might be starring in the film they were watching.
Musidora died in Paris, France in 1957
and was buried in the Cimetière de Bois-le-Roi.
Personal life
Musidora married Dr. Clément Marot on 20 April 1927. The union lasted 15 years and produced one child, Clément Marot Jr. (1928–2010). The couple divorced in 1944.
Selected filmography
* ''
Les misères de l'aiguille'' (1914)
* ''Severo Torelli'' (1914)
* ''
Les Vampires
''Les Vampires'' () is a 1915–1916 French Silent film, silent Crime film, crime serial film written and directed by Louis Feuillade. Set in Paris, it stars Édouard Mathé, Musidora and Marcel Lévesque. The main characters are a journalist an ...
'' (1915)
* ''
Judex
Judex (real name Jacques de Trémeuse) is a fictional French vigilante hero created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède for the 1916 silent film '' Judex''. Judex (whose name is Latin for "judge") is a mysterious avenger who dresses in black ...
'' (1916)
* ''
The Jackals'' (1917)
* ''The Vagabond'' (1918)
* ''
Mademoiselle Chiffon'' (1919)
* ''Pour don Carlos'' (1920) Written, co-directed, and co-starring Musidora.
* ''Vincenta'' (1920) Written, directed, and starring Musidora in the title role.
* ''Sol y sombra'' (1922) Co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Musidora.
* ''Le berceau de dieu'' (1926)
Works
* Musidora, "Vicenta". Comoedia illustré (15 February 1920): 207-208.
* Musidora, "Comment j’ai tourné Don Carlos". Ève (30 January 1921): 10.
* Musidora-
Pierre Louÿs
Pierre-Félix Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a Belgian poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perf ...
: une amitié amoureuse : récit et correspondances, 1914–1924
* Musidora, "Grandes Enquètes d’Ève: Comment je suis devenue Torera". Ève (28 September 1924): 11–18.
* Musidora, "En Amour tout est possible". Paris: Éditions Eugène Figuière, 1928.
* Musidora, "Arlequin et Anabella, roman"., 1928.
* Musidora, "Paroxysmes. De l’amour à la mort". Paris: Éditions Eugène Figuière, 1934.
* Musidora, "Auréoles : poésies scandées". Paris: Éditions Arnaud, 1939. (Préface de Wilfrid Lucas.)
* Musidora, "La Vie d’une vamp", Ciné-Mondial 42–48 (12 June – 17 July 1942): n.p.
* Musidora, "La vie sentimentale de George Sand". Paris: Éditions de la Revue moderne, 1946.
* Musidora, Souvenirs sur
Pierre Louÿs
Pierre-Félix Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a Belgian poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perf ...
. Muizon: Éditions "À L’écart", 1984.
* Musidora, Interview with Renée Sylvaire. Manuscript. Committee on Historical Research Collection (Fonds Commission des Recherches Historiques), CHR29-B1. Bibliothèque du Film, Cinémathèque Française.
* Musidora, "Colette et le Cinéma Muet". In Patrick Cazals, Musidora. La dixième muse. Paris: Éditions Henry Veryier, 1978. 195–199.
Further reading
*Patrick Cazals, (2020) ''Musidora-Pierre Louÿs: Une amitié amoureuse'', Paris: Éditions du Horla.
*
*
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...
(2014) ''Un Bien Grand Amour: Lettres À Musidora 1908–1953'' – L'Herne
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* Lacassin, Francis (November 1970) ''Musidora'', Anthologie du cinéma, supplément à ''L'Avant-Scène du Cinéma'' n° 108,
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;Cahiers Musidora
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References
External links
*
* TV Documentary Movie
Musidora at the Women Film Pioneers Project
Musidora 1889–1957–
Encyclopedia.com
''Encyclopedia.com'' is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information, images, and videos from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works.
History
The website was launched by Infonautics in March 1998. Infonautics w ...
*
Musidora– Calindex
MusidoraFonds
In archival science, a fonds (plural also ''fonds'') is a group of documents that share the same origin and have occurred naturally as an outgrowth of the daily workings of an agency, individual, or organization. An example of a fonds could be ...
La Cinémathèque française
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musidora
1889 births
1957 deaths
20th-century French actresses
Actresses from Paris
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
French women film directors
Film directors from Paris
French film actresses
French silent film actresses
French stage actresses
Women film pioneers