“Jacques Cottereau, the son of Jean Chouan, an old royalist from the Vendée, loves Marie-Claire, the daughter of Maxime Ardouin, delegate to the Republican armies. Maryse Fleurus, an ex-courtesan who loves Jacques, is continually throwing spanners in the works in an attempt to bring about the death of Marie-Claire. The plot twists and turns until the two lovers are finally married. Old Chouan is killed, the adventuress unmasked and Maxime Ardouin expires, murmuring ‘Vive la république’.” (Catalogue of French feature-length films).
Jean Chouan covers the same historical events as did Capellani in 1914 (and Victor Hugo in 1874) in Quatrevingt-treize: the Royalist-Catholic uprisings in the Vendée and Brittany against the secularist Jacobin Republic. Maurice Schutz, who played the eponymous hero, also had a small role in the pre-war version. The incomparable Schutz – what a face! Like a razor blade! – makes us think further a eld: of Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932), disappearing and suffocating in our at the end of the film, just as the beautiful and evil Maryse Fleurus does, in quicksand, at the end of Jean Chouan (1925).
The original version of Jean Chouan, in serial form, is lost. (The eight episodes were: 1. The Motherland in Danger 2. The Battle for Hearts 3. On Pyrmil Bridge 4. The Hostage 5. Citizen Maryse Fleurus 6. The Committee of Public Safety 7. The Fairy Grotto 8. The Soldiers of France). In its rich collection, the Národní Filmový Archiv in Prague has a Czech version edited down to 3,200 meters. Restored by Ledecký, it shimmers with beauty.