Helena Makowska

Filmmaker Peter Delpeut, who previously examined the mysterious and otherworldly images of early cinema in Lyrical Nitrate, has compiled footage from a dozen operatic silents released between 1913 and 1920 in his feature Diva Dolorosa. Edited for emotional and visual impact rather than narrative clarity, Diva Dolorosa features vintage performances from such singing stars as Lyda Borelli, Pina Meichelli, and Francesca Bertini. (All Movie Guide)

Only a fragmented 52 minutes from this Robert Reinert film survive. (imdb)

The short film tells the story of Hamlet, who was forced to flee from the treachery of the usurper of the throne who had killed all the relatives of the young. But he will now return to the castle to avenge his father.

The singer Cécile Hervey celebrates great achievements, while her sister Elda lives quietly with her aunt Claire on land. Elda is engaged to neighbor Bruno Leveson, but is irresistibly attracted by his brother Raoul, which she will marry. Raoul cheats on her, even before the marriage, with her sister Cecile.

Judith, Count Robert de Bertan's daughter, is on holiday with her friend Louise and her father Marquis Emile de Fers. Meanwhile, banker Charles Delcourt has introduced De Bertan to the owner of a gambling-and-dance hall, Olga Tatschowas. De Bertan, unaware that his banker has lost the capital he gave him to invest at Olga's gambling tables, falls in love with Olga. He marries her unaware that he is the victim of a plot hatched by Delcourt and Olga, who desires a title and De Bertan's possession.

The model Fede loves the writer Arte, but he is enmeshed by the beautiful Femmina. Fede takes comfort in the Faun, a mythological creature who becomes animated from the stone sculpted by Arte. The love story with the Faun represents a return to a dreamt wildness impossible by now, for the modern man, to reach and maintain.

An innocent man is sent to the guillotine for a murder at the bridge where, unbeknown at the time, a baby is kidnapped. These events intertwine with the ducal fortune and, in particular, the machinations by Claudia. The murder and the kidnapping remain the central events propelling action and investigation throughout the series. Based on the novel by Xavier de Montépin.

Two young men move to the city in order to study. One of them gets entangled in a love triangle.