A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)

Written and Directed by Charles Chaplin

This is an unusual item in the Chaplin film list for a few reasons. It is an early feature running a brisk 1 hour and 22 minutes. All his work before had been shorts with the exceptions of The Kid at 1 hr 8 minutes and The Pilgrim at 47 minutes. (Tillie’s Punctured Romance, the Mack Sennett movie from 1914 runs 1 hr 22 minutes and is a very early feature comedy film, but not a Chaplin controlled film.)

A Woman of Paris then represents Chaplin exploring the feature length form as well as a bold attempt to take on a serious drama. He certainly was dealing with serious subjects in his Tramp films before this but always presented in a comedy package. The Kid has some deeply moving serious moments that he handles perfectly.
In this one he also does not appear at all. There is a title card at the beginning of the presentation stating that he wants it understood that he is not acting in this movie.

A Woman of Paris has some light party moments but nothing that could really be classified as even comedy relief.
It can be seen not only as an experiment for Charles Chaplin as a serious  filmmaker but as a starring vehicle for his long time leading lady Edna Purviance.
Edna Purviance is someone Chaplin recruited into the film business. The story goes that he wanted someone raw that he could direct into acting exactly as he felt he needed. He employed her in 30 some of the short movies that developed him into a global superstar and one of the early true geniuses of the early days of film art.

A Woman of Paris is a very romantic, but quite sophisticated, love story. A small town man and woman are in love. They intend to go off to Paris together to marry and make a life. But the older generation, mainly the stern fathers of both of them, present obstacles that cause a misunderstanding and separation. Marie (Edna Purviance), takes the midnight train to Paris on her own.

From here it takes a sudden jump into some future, months or a year later. Marie is living a life of material wealth with everything she could possibly want as a kept lover of Pierre Revel (Adolphe Menjou). He is soon to be married to another woman. Pierre is a billionaire or whatever was filthy rich at that time. He is seen in his “office” , his luxury bed, at “work” looking at ticker tape coming out of one of those bell jar type stock price machines.

The conflict of the situation comes in when she has a chance meeting with her old townie boyfriend who still loves her. He has transplanted to Paris himself with his mother and is a struggling artist, in a lifestyle far from the opulent luxury of Marie.

But Marie wants real love and maybe children. Revel gives every appearance of adoring her and wanting her, he is not really presented as a horrible rich cad, yet he is marrying another and she must choose between that life and being the only woman in love and poverty with the artist.
The drama continues from there in a way that is not being revealed, spoiled, here.

As stated before it is a brisk well staged and constructed tragic romantic story. Recommended for anyone interested in silent dramatic movies and of course anyone interested in the work and development of the movie great Charles Chaplin.