Line #7 Film/Tartuffe

Context Film / Tartuffe

Go To


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tartuffe_241248143_large.jpg]]
2	''Tartuffe'' (German title: ''Herr Tartüff'') is a German silent film directed by Creator/FriedrichWilhelmMurnau in 1925.
3
4	In [[UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic modern-day 1920s Germany]], a wealthy old man is being manipulated by his housekeeper into leaving his fortune to her rather than his grandson. In order to demonstrate to his grandfather how he's being used, the grandson shows him a movie based on {{Creator/Moliere}}'s ''{{Theatre/Tartuffe}}''. Most of the rest of the film is taken up with this retelling of ''Tartuffe'', with the storyline about the disinherited grandson serving as a FramingDevice.
5
6	----
7	!!Tropes in the modern-day frame story:
8
9	* BreakingTheFourthWall: In the opening scene, the disinherited grandson turns to the camera and directly addresses the audience in his intertitles.
10	* FramingDevice: These scenes exist to frame the original ''Tartuffe'' story.
11	* ShowWithinAShow: It's a movie about modern-day (1920s) characters watching a movie based on ''Tartuffe''.
12	* TheWickedStage: The old man is disinheriting his grandson because he (gasp!) became an actor.
13
14	!!Tropes in the actual ''Tartuffe'' adaptation:
15
16	* AdaptationDistillation: The story is pared down considerably, dropping most of the secondary characters. There is no ArrangedMarriage plot with Mariane, who doesn't even exist in this version. Tartuffe is exposed before Orgon has finished signing over all his property to him, eliminating the need for UsefulNotes/LouisXIV's DeusExMachina.
17	* AdaptedOut: It's easier to say who ''wasn't'' adapted out as this version only includes four of the play's characters: Orgon, Elmire, Dorine, and Tartuffe himself.
18	* GenreShift: Molière's original play is a farce, but this film plays it more as a straight domestic drama.
19	* MaleGaze: We get some shots from Tartuffe's POV when he's leering at Elmire.

Context Film / Tartuffe