The secret of Bauer’s films

State-of-the art accents of cinema in the Russian Empire and the First World War.

At the height of the First World War, the mood of society changed from euphoria and agitation to ridicule the enemy (films: “Down with the German Yoke” and “Glory to us, death to the enemies”) to fatigue and a sense of hopelessness.

Focusing on these general feelings of decadence, the melodrama genre in cinema flourished. The films increasingly raised themes of the conflict between the city and the village, patriarchal violence, capitalist inequality and the role of women in society. The films were shot for the most grateful audience at that time — women whose husbands went to the front.

In them, directors demonstrated the image of a woman-heroine of the new century on the path to emancipation, faced with the old foundations of society, which dictated their terms and prevented the possibility of deciding their own fate. Two names became some of the last symbols of the pre-revolutionary era of Russian cinema: Evgeny Bauer and Vera Kholodnaya.

The recognized master of melodramas about the difficult lot of women shifted the focus of the audience’s attention from the external fascination in the film to subtle psychology and attention to detail. He abandoned rough and artificial scenery, added volume and diversity to the frame, where every detail shaded the meaning of what was happening.

It was Bauer who discovered the pre-revolutionary screen star Vera Kholodnaya, and she, in turn, opened up a new vision of acting in cinema to the world. Without any education or techniques of art theaters, she simply existed in the frame, as in life, captivating with her naturalness.

Kholodnaya was a kind of experiment that “hit” the hearts of viewers who were accustomed to theatrical and obvious acting in the frame. The secret of the magic of Bauer’s films and the success of Kholodnaya is complex and simple at the same time: in very well-thought-out voluminous and multi-level (stairs, podiums) sets, where every detail of the interior paints its own story, the actors had the opportunity to go beyond the boundaries of cinematic “prettiness”, to be themselves, people. All together, this created the very effect of honesty towards the viewer, which, coupled with a dramatic plot, gave real feelings and experiences.