The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ

Production and release

The film was shot partly at the Gaumont studios in the Buttes-Chaumont and partly in the Fontainebleau forest near Paris. Sets and costumes, inspired by engravings by James Tissot, were designed by Victorin Jasset and Henri Menessier. For many years the film was wrongly attributed to Jasset, who served as Guy's assistant directing exterior scenes and managing extras. It was released in January 1906 in France and the United States, sold either in individual scenes or as a full-length film.

Analysis

Richard Abel identifies the film's principal distinction as a unique combination of realist and melodramatic elements, which he terms its masculine and feminine discourse. The realist side involves deliberate verisimilitude through location shooting and authentic props; the feminine side privileges women in relation to Jesus. Abel also highlights Guy's cinematic techniques, such as a cut-in medium shot in scene 19 (Saint Veronica) and a ninety-degree pan in scene 20 (Climbing Golgotha).

Carol A. Hebron agrees that the film privileges women's relation to Jesus, noting that a large group of women at the foot of the cross implies their faithfulness contrasted with the male disciples' absence. She adds that outdoor location scenes draw the audience into the experience rather than making them onlookers of a staged performance. Hebron also praises the effective use of the dissolve technique, especially in scene 8 (The Last Supper), to show a terrified Judas having a vision of Jesus half-naked, wearing a crown of thorns, holding a red scepter, bearing marks of crucifixion, and accompanied by three angels.