Great acting, especially for a silent film. One thing that bothers me is that the plot seems a bit unbelievable. I just can't imagine going from my husband plotting to kill me to falling in love with him all over again, and in the span of a few hours.
shareHer quick forgiveness was a bit hard to buy, but I guess it was necessary for brevity and pacing.
shareIt was a different day and age. That said, you should really read the original short story this movie was based on. That particular plot to murder, the husbands treatment of of the wife, and certain other situations were unbelievable for me. Like REALLY unbelievable. I mean it! There were a couple of times when I was saying "I don't believe this cad!" and other similar things to myself. The Man was less of a conniving cruel individual than the husband in the book.
Look for Excursion to Tilsit.
georgeobrien.us
I saw this movie for the first time a few days ago. I agree it's a stretch to go from murder to falling in love again. Plus didn't the wife know the man was fooling around? She seemed disappointed when she came back with supper and he had disappeared. What made the plot flow a bit for me was the wedding scene where they witness a wedding and kind of renew their vows so to speak.
shareYou have to remember that he was kind of reluctant from the beginning about killing her, and was only going to do it because his mistress wanted him to. I think his wife knew this is what happened and was so quick to forgive him because she could tell that he was truly changed.
shareRead the opening titles:
This song
of the Man and his Wife
is of no place;
You might hear it anywhere
at any time.
For wherever the sun rises and sets...
in the city's turmoil
or
under the open sky of the farm;
life is much the same;
sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.
SUNRISE should be seen as an allegory. Webster's defines the word "allegory" as
"a work of art in which a deeper meaning underlines the superficial or literal meaning."
If you judge SUNRISE as a straight story then you have cheated yourself of the film's greatness.
This is why the characters in the film have no names. Thus the Man, the Wife, and the City
Woman are symbols of the TEMPTED (mankind), the LIGHT (Christ-like), and DARKNESS (Satan).
"Thus the Man, the Wife, and the City
Woman are symbols of the TEMPTED (mankind), the LIGHT (Christ-like), and DARKNESS (Satan)."
Ugh, that would kill the movie for me if I had to believe that garbage.
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I agree, that was tough to buy; however, the movie was very emotionally moving. I think that the husband never really wanted to kill his wife (he thought he would do it in a moment of weakness) and he really seemed to want to repent and make up for his momentary moral lapse when he was under the spell of that "harlot".
share