It always comes as a surprise, even a shock, to discover that a film, including all its motives and themes, is the predecessor of much better known films. The experience creates a feeling of being thrown out of our timeline, which supports us to find our way through life. These emotions are the subject of La Femme de nulle part, a film about the constant overlap of different times and memories. The synopsis as written by Louis Delluc (1890-1924) tells us the following: “An old and wornout woman makes a final pilgrimage to the house she sadly had to leave 30 years ago. There she finds a young woman in the same situation, and above all the images of her hours of joy. And she does not regret having paid so hard for the happiness that she fled. These themes torment me and pursue me. These evocations must find in the viewer a deep understanding. Everyone has something in them or a story that they believe is dead and that the ghosts of the screen can quickly revive.” It seems that Delluc’s goal is to use the cinema as a therapeutic machine. He creates a dream-like atmosphere by using many flashbacks; he reinforces the symbolic nature of the story by giving the characters no names and using quasi point-of-view shots. With these techniques he underlines the universal nature of the story and tries to involve the spectators emotionally in a much stronger way than is usual. And he succeeds, in a very subliminal and unostentatious way. This sensibility reflects Delluc’s character, which one can experience while reading his texts about cinema (still waiting to be translated in a more comprehensive manner). Is La Femme de nulle part an impressionist film as is written everywhere? It’s for you to decide after viewing this second to last film by Delluc, who died far too young.

Karl Wratschko