Do we sense a “historical turn” or return to Jean Epstein as both a major theorist and filmmaker? The April 2008 symposium organized by the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago certainly awakened that expectation – first, by inviting half a dozen scholars from North America and Europe to present new research on Epstein's theoretical writing and several of his films and, second, by screening a relatively unseen 35mm print of Finis terrae (1929), which coincided closely with Pathé's unexpected DVD release of Coeur fidèle (1923). This collection of newly translated texts and critical essays should mark a further advance in the “turn” to reclaim Jean Epstein for film theory and film history. My own modest contribution aims to offer a series of notes on Coeur fidèle and Finis terrae, prompted by the unique opportunity to re-see both films – nearly thirty years after Marie Epstein allowed me to view them at the Cinémathèque française – and by the astute remarks of several scholars during the Chicago symposium.

Coeur fidèle

Coeur fidèle opens with an unusual series of eight shots that I described long ago as follows:

• 1. High-angle close-up of a table surface as a hand clears it of a plate and a cigarette and then wipes it with a rag.

• 2. Extreme close-up of Marie's face (45o angle).

• 3. Medium close-up of a hand picking up a glass and bottle while another hand wipes the edge of the table.

• 4. Close-up of Marie's face (straight on).

• 5. Medium close-up of wine being poured from a bottle into a glass, beside which a hand rests on the table.

• 6. Close-up of Marie's face looking down.

• 7. Medium shot of Marie pouring wine for a man seated at the table; she corks the bottle, and he lights a cigarette; he begins talking to her.

• 8. Long shot of the bistro interior: Marie and the man are at the table in the right background, behind a couple at another table, while the edge of the bar is in the left foreground. The bistro owner pushes Marie toward the man at the table and then exits (foreground left); his wife enters (foreground left) and shakes her head at Marie, who comes over to the bar with a paper in her hand.