on Piano. (The Faithful Heart). Jean Epstein was one of the pioneers of "pure cinema" as opposed to the theatricality of popular cinema. Coeur Fidèle was his masterpiece. René Clair wrote in 1924: "What distinguishes Coeur Fidèle from so many other movies is the fact that it was composed for the screen....The lens leans on all sides, turns about things and people, seeks an expressive shot, an unexpected angle of vision...." Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinematheque Française, later wrote, "In Coeur Fidèle the public found all of modern poetry, the port of Marseilles, the quais, the boats, the dirty rooms...that world which was one of the great inspiring themes of the literature of that day....It was the Quai des Brumes of the twenties." As a "pure" film, Coeur Fidèle dispensed with dialogue titles.