La Souriante Madame Beudet

Now celebrated as the first explicitly feminist film, Madame Beudet is a rare and outstanding example of Dulac's pioneering work (hard to categorise, the director is best known as a theorist and a leading member of the avant-garde). It marked a major advance towards psychological development in film, with its symbolism and experimental use of camera, lighting, superimposition and slow motion techniques to evoke the shifting mental and emotional state of an unsmiling woman (Germaine Dermoz) crushed by an oppressive marriage and finding momentary liberation in fantasy.