Gribiche (1926)

I have never heard of this film before, Gerard. According to the BFI, this is a study of a ten-year-old boy who is sent away from his mother and does not like his new environment where he feels lonely and bored. I would be tempted by Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari instead, Gerard.



Now newly restored, Wiene’s classic of German expressionism is far more than a landmark of film history; to this day it remains unsettling, thought-provoking and very impressive. About – or is it? – a sinister hypnotist who sends out a somnambulist to commit a series of murders, the film is remarkable for its disturbingly unresolved ambiguities, for its highly stylised performances (Veidt’s playing of the somnambulist is especially astonishing) and for the brazenly artificial, dreamlike distortions of its painted sets. As such, it’s one of the best known and most successful experimental films ever made; its abiding power lies in its effectiveness in establishing and sustaining a mood of inescapable nightmare. This restoration features a new score in the style of Giuseppe Becce, composer of the music for the film’s original release.