The film:

In a deserted town square, in the abstracted atmosphere of some Mediaeval fantasy, the flower-girl Graziella awaits the arrival of her beloved Ascanio. But he – in disguise, graceful in appearance but proud in character – wants nothing of it: he aspires to a life of riches and a woman covered in jewels, not the flower garland made by the girl next door. His wish comes true through a good-luck fairy, but we must be careful what we wish for, because we might get it. For if those desires come true undeservedly, it would alienate the sympathy of both gods and fairies.

L’amour et l’argent is an edifying fable, coloured with dazzling stencil technique, which (as was often the case in those days) points a f inger at the putative dangers of social mobility – a story seen at the time as capable of successfully combining “an element of magic with stern realities” (Moving Picture World, July 1908). It was created by the young but obviously ambitious French production company Lux Film, founded just two years before by the pioneer Henri Joly.

The film restoration:

L’amour et l’argent was restored by Museo Nazionale del Cinema di Torino from a stencil colored nitrate positive preserved by the Museum. The film was scanned at 4K and digitally cleaned and stabilized at 2K.

The final restoration outputs are a 35mm preservation dupe negative, a DCP and a 35mm projection copy.

The restoration was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2019.

Link Vimeo Cineteca MNC: https://vimeo.com/562680977

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