In Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque, which Dulac conceived of as a “cinegraphic ballet”, it is the form of the arabesque (found in music, décor, and choreographic dance) that dominates. While the motifs of water and light recall Disque 957, the film’s visual structure is principally composed of variations on the arabesque: arcs of light, water spouts, spider webs, burgeoning trees, flowers and foliage, a woman’s smile, arms stretching, a leg that rhythms a rocking chair. Like the first and second arabesques of Claude Debussy which inspired it, this film is the most abstract of Dulac’s pure films. It uses natural elements (light, mirrors, water, and wind) and photographic techniques (blurs, masks, dissolves, and multiple exposures and lenses) to distort the various elements, or to intensify their design.

Tami Williams