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<\/a><\/p>\nThis fact makes it all the more empowering that Madame Beudet reads a piece from this series, specifically. Reading this poem specifically can be seen as an extension of her fight against\u00a0the restraints of her husband and her domesticated lifestyle – it represents a further rejection of the accepted social norms.\u00a0She reads the text with hesitation, questioning whether or not she should continue to break with tradition – nevertheless, she does, asserting her strength and individuality.<\/p>\n
The text of the poem itself holds many of the same themes as The Smiling Madame Beudet<\/em>. Most prominently, Baudelaire describes an ongoing struggle between two lovers, who each look entirely to the future – as opposed to the present – to find happiness. It is in their dreams, their ideas about their relationship, and not the relationship itself, that happiness remains possible.<\/p>\n In the third stanza, though, everything changes; the lovers can no longer look ahead to the future, as they will finally exchange a ‘unique flash,’ which will shock each of them like a long weep – in other words, the truth of their tragic relationship will make itself plain. This trajectory of the poem plays itself out in the film, when Mr. Beudet asks his wife, after nearly killing her, “How could I live without you?” In the film, the bullet represents the ‘flash,’ and the subsequent question marking their\u00a0final dealing with the truth of their love.<\/p>\n La Mort des Amants\u00a0<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n Nous aurons des lits pleins d’odeurs l\u00e9g\u00e8res,<\/em> Usant \u00e0 l’envi leurs chaleurs derni\u00e8res,<\/em> Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,<\/em> Et plus tard un Ange, entr’ouvrant les portes,<\/em> \u2014 Charles Baudelaire \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n The Death of Lovers<\/b><\/p>\n We shall have beds full of subtle perfumes, Using their dying flames emulously, Some evening made of rose and of mystical blue And later an Angel, setting the doors ajar, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u2014 William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil<\/i> (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Charles Baudelaire’s La Mort des Amants (transcribed in both the original French and in translation to\u00a0English below), which Dulac incorporates into her film with lengthy title cards that demand the viewer’s attention, had already gained a cultural significance in France at the time of The Smiling Madame Beudet‘s release – the poem was apart of … <\/p>\n\n\n
\n -Isaiah Zeavin-Moss<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nDes divans profonds comme des tombeaux,<\/em>
\nEt d’\u00e9tranges fleurs sur des \u00e9tag\u00e8res,<\/em>
\nEcloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux,<\/em>
\nQui r\u00e9fl\u00e9chiront leurs doubles lumi\u00e8res<\/em>
\nDans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNous \u00e9changerons un \u00e9clair unique,<\/em>
\nComme un long sanglot, tout charg\u00e9 d’adieux;<\/em><\/p>\n
\nViendra ranimer, fid\u00e8le et joyeux,<\/em>
\nLes miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nDivans as deep as graves, and on the shelves
\nWill be strange flowers that blossomed for us
\nUnder more beautiful heavens.<\/p>\n
\nOur two hearts will be two immense torches
\nWhich will reflect their double light
\nIn our two souls, those twin mirrors.<\/p>\n
\nA single flash will pass between us
\nLike a long sob, charged with farewells;<\/p>\n
\nFaithful and joyous, will come to revive
\nThe tarnished mirrors, the extinguished flames.<\/p>\n