Faces of Children (Visages d’enfants)
Jacques Feyder is a Belgian director who worked in both the silent and sound era of film. A few weeks back I caught his 1925 silent film, Faces of Children (Visages d’enfants). To say this film brought me to my knees would be an understatement. Silent films never get the credit they deserve. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the actors had to work ten times harder because their facial and body expressions needed to tell you everything because there was minimal dialogue in these scenes. What makes Faces of Children so astonishing is the personal nature of the film and how even eighty-plus years later it still rings true and it achingly poignant.
The film opens with the death of a mother and the family trying to make sense of it. The daughter is too young to understand, but the son grieves and visits his mother’s grave everyday. When the father remarries, the new family unit is not one any of the children are open to. The story evolves around these two different families becoming one. However, what makes this film standout from all others is the acting by the children. It’s not just good, it’s chilling. They express so much in the looks in their eyes and watching them and their actions is enough to break your heart.
The story is one that should be re-made in Hollywood today. However, with any luck, it would turn into something as dreadful as Monster In Law. What makes the film so engrossing is the compassion these lost souls show one another. Children of re-married parents are often shown as shrewd and evil, here they are just confused and yearning for their lost parents. The father doesn’t quite know how to console or speak to his son and as a result, he’s confused, not bad, not evil, just confused. The step-mother is a good person and it’s proven time and time again. She seeks to heal not just her pain, but her children and her step-children as well. Her attitude towards all of the children in the film makes this a refreshing and ultimately invigorating movie going experience.
The nuclear family of this story is much like ones of modern times where emotions weigh on us all and often, people are scared to express their emotions. We’ve evolved into a society that holds back and as this film demonstrates, this is never a good thing. I’m continually surprised and reminded of how despite all of our technological advances, humans still experience extreme pain and even though we have the tools to fix it, we choose to hold our anger and emotions within. Many people disregard silent film because they feel it’s overacted and out of touch, but this is a film where the acting is as relevant as any you’ve seen and the story could be applied to most families that experience death and divorce. In the end, we learn that sometimes that just because someone didn’t give birth to us, it doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve to be loved. Life is about finding that love and sometimes we fail to realize its right under our noses.
