This rare French film, which was never released in the U.S., brings together many elements of the modern art movement of the twenties. Above all, it is a fascinating contribution to the cinema by cubist artist Fernand Léger, who created the film's exquisite set design. (Léger was working on his own film, Le Ballet Mécanique, during the production of L'Inhumaine.) The plot itself is almost “cubist” in its tortured machinations, and certainly in its concern with love in the technological age. Within an ultramodern mansion, the celebrated concert singer Claire Lescot (Georgette Leblanc), known as “l'inhumaine” for her icy indifference, is courted by a series of admirers ranging from a Hindu prince to a political agitator. A young scientist, Einer Norsen (Jaque Catelain), who has a profound faith in the benefits of technology for mankind, is deeply in love with the singer. He devises an elaborate plot to test her humanity and bring her hard heart to life.
Museum of Modern Art film curator Eileen Bowser writes: “L'Inhumaine was a great failure with the public.... Nevertheless, it stirred great critical discussion.... The tenets of futurism underlie the out-of-focus impressions of speed.... The dynamics of the technological age are embodied in the emphasis on machinery and the wonders of modern invention. Cubism is evident in Léger's fantastic laboratory sets in which space is destroyed, planes broken up, and machine movements fragmented.... The exteriors of the buildings were designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens, who introduced to cinema the modern architectural concepts of stark and simple shapes, eliminating decorative detail. The art deco rooms were designed by the young Brazilian artist Alberto Cavalcanti, soon to be a noted filmmaker himself. Claude Autant-Lara created the winter gardens with stylized plants.