How René Clair starred in a silent movie by a Russian director
René Clair, the French filmmaker and writer behind the movies ‘The Grand Maneuver’ (1955) and ‘Under the Roofs of Paris’ (1930), began his career as a critic and even managed to appear in several movies as an actor. It was then that he caught the eye of renowned Russian director Yakov Protazanov.
Considered to be one of the founders of Russian cinema, Protazanov worked in Europe for several years after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. He invited the Frenchman to star in ‘Le Sens De La Mort’ (‘The Meaning of Death’; 1922), based on a novel by Paul Bourget. The protagonist, a surgeon named Michel Ortega, learns he has a fatal illness and expects his wife to commit suicide out of love for him.
Although Clair had no intention of resuming his career as an actor at the time, he did, however, accept the Russian director's offer. "I barely understood what was required of me and, when I did, I performed poorly. Protazanov's patience was sorely tested…," he recalled.
The director's biographers noted that Protazanov, when he failed to achieve the desired result, would fall into a trance: "Sometimes, in a fit of Slavic rage, he would throw his hat on the ground and trample it underfoot." René Clair later admitted: "It was thanks to him and, later, to Louis Feuillade, that I understood that cinema is a fascinating adventure and that if I were to be a part of it, my role should be played out not in front of the lens, but behind it."
