Catalogue · No. 15 · Grand Spectacle
La roue
Abel Gance · 1923 · France · 418 min
Synopsis
A railway engineer rescues an orphaned girl after a catastrophic train accident and raises her as his daughter. As years pass, buried desires, jealousy, and guilt disrupt the fragile balance of their household. Against the relentless movement of machines and modern life, human passions intensify toward emotional and moral collapse.
Critique
Abel Gance transforms melodrama into an overwhelming cinematic experience through rapid montage, expressive camera movement, and monumental visual rhythm. The film anticipates later developments in editing while preserving a deeply romantic sensibility rooted in fatalism and excess. Its fusion of industrial imagery with emotional turbulence gives silent cinema one of its most ambitious meditations on obsession, time, and suffering.
Technical sheet
- Director
- Abel Gance
- Year
- 1923
- Country
- France
- Running time
- 418 min
- Genre
- Drama, Romance
- Written by
- Abel Gance
- Cinematography
- Léonce-Henri Burel, Gaston Brun, Marc Bujard
- Cast
- Séverin-Mars, Ivy Close, Gabriel de Gravone, Pierre Magnier, Max Maxudian, Georges Térof
- Production
- Films Abel Gance
- Music
- Newly composed original score
Licensing
Screening availability
- Theatrical screenings
- Non-theatrical screenings
- Festivals and cinematheques
- Educational screenings
- Television broadcasting
- Digital platforms and streaming
- Promotional and editorial use
- Licensing of graphic and visual materials
Available formats
- DCP
- DCP with subtitles
- Apple ProRes
- MP4 Screening File
- MP4 Rehearsal Copy for Musicians (silent films)
- Blu-ray
- High-resolution archival masters
Promotional materials
- Posters
- Press stills
- Promotional assets
- Screening support materials
Available subtitles
- English
- Spanish
- French
- Portuguese
- Italian
- German
