Diva Dolorosa

Diva Dolorosa - Goddess of Sorrow - is a film compilation about acting in the famous Italian diva films between 1913 and 1920. This film - composed entirely of found footage shows how Lyda Borelli, Pina Menichelli and Francesca Bertini, the great stars of the Italian melodrama, portray archetypal characters and keep their feet by adopting a role. One can see how the femme fatale manipulates the man in refined love-play, how the hysterica suddenly lets her hair hang down, shouts and cries with fury and pain when her husband has committed adultery or she has lost a child. And how, after the attack, sleep and the sickbed follow: the femme fragile. The music specially composed for the film by Loek Dikker was performed live during the première in the Holland Festival.