L'automne du coeur (1911) Online

Despite his advanced age,a musician falls in love with his pupil ;but she gets married and he is desperate .Nevertheless,he agrees to play in the church during the ceremony;back home,he's so despondent that he thinks of suicide ....

A lovely short which shows,in the end ,that if the Autumn of the heart may be sad,its Winter can bring some kind of renaissance : like in Perret's "Les Dents De Fer" ,it's a child who soothe and comfort the old musician's wounded soul .

The wedding scene is a good moment :the story takes place in a wealthy milieu (how many people could afford violins lessons in France a hundred years ago?)and the bridal procession is led to the altar by a Suisse (= verger),a man from the past -they were still present in the late fifties in Paris as Lamorisse 's "Le Ballon Rouge" shows.In the balcony,watching the ceremony ,the graybeard plays his violin as if his life depended on it;later in his apartment ,how he sublimates his impossible passion.

The director also plays the lead.