Theater and Cinema: Performing Trauma

French theater initially responded with patriotic melodramas that quickly seemed false. More complex responses emerged as war continued. Playwrights who survived trenches brought new authenticity to stages.

Henri Ghéon's "Le Pain" showed soldiers' religious experience without conventional piety. Paul Raynal's "Le Tombeau sous l'Arc de Triomphe" explored Unknown Soldier's identity through multiple possibilities. These plays rejected melodrama for psychological exploration, finding drama in stillness rather than action.

The Grand Guignol theater, specializing in horror, found reality exceeding imagination. Its graphic violence, popular prewar, seemed tame compared to veterans' experiences. The theater adapted, incorporating war wounds and traumas into repertoire, medicalizing horror. Audiences, including veterans seeking catharsis, packed performances.

Cinema, still young, documented and interpreted war simultaneously. Official films showed heroic charges and grateful civilians. Unofficial footage, suppressed during war, revealed truth. Abel Gance's "J'accuse" (1919) culminated with dead soldiers rising to confront the living. This supernatural climax expressed truths realism couldn't capture.

The war accelerated cinema's technical development. Cameras became mobile, editing sophisticated, special effects convincing. D.W. Griffith's American techniques influenced French directors. The medium's ability to manipulate time—flashbacks, slow motion, montage—proved ideal for representing trauma's temporal disruptions.

Female performers found expanded opportunities. With male actors mobilized, women played wider roles. Sarah Bernhardt, despite age and amputation, toured performing for troops. Mistinguett became forces' sweetheart through music hall performances. These women, maintaining morale, proved entertainment's essential function during crisis.