La Chute de la maison Usher

I saw it with a live piano accompaniment by Filip Topol, and it was also played at high speed, so Epstein's attempt to portray in slow motion the feelings of a man, captured in the details of his face, eluded me. Nevertheless, the heating scene is visually very impressive, I also liked the visual effects sequences that play with leaves, etc. But I have to confess that this classic bored me. I guess I don't have the right relationship with old movies. (24.08.2003)

Animism was among the qualities of film that Epstein most admired. This adaptation of two Edgar Allan Poe stories (The Fall of the House of Usher and The Oval Portrait) animates the inanimate at the level of form and content. A loved one is summoned back from the realm of the dead by grief, static objects are set in motion by a rhythmic montage. Compared to The Three-Sided Mirror, the rhythm is significantly slower, but also more uniform – instead of multiple perspectives, with subjectification of perception is largely limited to Roderick Usher (Jean Debucourt’s unforgettably obsessive expression), whose mental state is made clear to us by objects complementing the masterfully composed shots. Thanks to the slow pace, sorrow prevails over fear, but I immediately entered the transfer of the coffin in my personal register of the most impressive horror scenes. 75% (07.01.2012)