Mater dolorosa (1917)

Dr. Gilles Berliac devotes his life to his profession and neglects his wife, Marthe. She goes to see her husband’s friend, Claude Rolland, and asks him to give everything up and leave with her. When he refuses, she attempts suicide. He tries to intervene, and she accidentally kills him. Three years later, after a child has been born, a compromising letter resurfaces. A crooked bookseller agrees not to publish it if Marthe pays a large sum to a shady intermediary. By chance, her husband receives the letter, reads it, and confronts his wife. She refuses to confess. Distraught over doubts about his paternity, her husband kidnaps the child and refuses to give any news until she confesses. “Silence for silence,” he says. The child grows weaker. Marthe is beside herself with worry. Unyielding, her husband sticks to his position. Confusion sets in: is the child dead? Worried by the despair overwhelming the young mother, the servant, who witnessed the accidental killing, tells the husband everything. He changes his attitude and takes his wife to see their son. Ambiguous to the end, he silently takes the road to the cemetery, but does not stop there. At last, the child is reunited with both parents, as the husband reveals to Marthe that he knows everything. She throws herself into his arms.