An epic of the Weimar cinema, The Love of Jeanne Ney follows a young French woman’s struggle for happiness amid the political turbulence and corruption of post-World War I Europe. A tour-de-force for director G.W. Pabst (Diary of a Lost Girl, Pandora’s Box), the film blends a variety of cinematic approaches as it weaves its complex narrative of moral chaos and political upheaval: the “American Style,” evocative of the Hollywood studio blockbuster; the avant-garde techniques of Soviet montage; as well as the eerie moving camerawork and shadowy perspectives typical of German Expressionism. The result is a stunning cinematic experiment that never fails to surprise the viewer as it races towards its exhilarting conclusion.
