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{{short description|French actress}}
{{About||the thoroughbred racehorse|Musidora (horse)|the hamlet in Canada|Musidora, Alberta|the painting by William Etty|Musidora: The Bather 'At the Doubtful Breeze Alarmed'}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2009}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Musidora
| image         = Musidora - Gaumont.jpg
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = Musidora in 1916
| birthname     = Jeanne Roques
| birth_date    = {{birth date|df=yes|1889|02|23}}
| birth_place   = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=yes|1957|12|11|1889|02|23}}
| death_place   = [[Paris, France]]
| occupation    = Actress, director, writer
| spouse        = {{marriage|Dr. Clément Marot|1927|1944|end=divorce}}
| children = 1
| yearsactive   = 1909–1950
}}


'''Jeanne Roques''' (23 February 1889 &ndash; 11 December 1957), known professionally as '''Musidora''', was a French actress, film director, and writer. She is best known for her acting in [[silent films]], and rose to public attention for roles in the [[Louis Feuillade]] [[Film serial|serials]] ''[[Les Vampires]]'' as Irma Vep and in ''[[Judex (1916 film)|Judex]]'' as Marie Verdier.

==Early life==
Born Jeanne Roques in Paris, France to music composer and theorist of socialism Jacques Roques and painter and feminist Adèle Clémence Porchez, Musidora began her career in the arts at an early age, writing her first novel at the age of fifteen and acting on the stage with the likes of [[Colette]], one of her lifelong friends.  During the very early years of [[French cinema]] Musidora began a professional collaboration with the highly successful French film director [[Louis Feuillade]]. She made her film debut in ''Les miseres de l'aiguille'', directed by Raphael Clamour, in January 1914. The film highlights the problems of the urban women in the French working-class, and presents a new representation of the female even by the working-class movement in the early 20th century in France.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=MUNDIM|first1=Luiz Felipe C.|date=July–December 2019|title=The miseries of the needle of the cooperative Cinéma du Peuple: a feminist movie in the early cinema|url=https://www.academia.edu/39769038|journal=Significação – Revista de Cultura Audiovisual}}</ref>

Adopting the moniker of Musidora ([[Greek language|Greek]] for "gift of the muses"), after the heroine in [[Théophile Gautier]]'s novel ''Fortunio'',<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Musidora ''Encyclopedia Britannica'']</ref> and affecting a unique [[Vamp (woman)|vamp]] persona that would be popularized in the United States by actress [[Theda Bara]] at about the same time,<ref>Vincendeau, Ginette (2000). ''Stars and Stardom in French Cinema''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 25. {{ISBN|1441130268}}.</ref> Musidora soon found a foothold in the nascent medium of moving pictures. With her heavily [[Kohl (cosmetics)|kohled]] dark eyes, somewhat sinister make-up, pale skin and exotic wardrobes, Musidora quickly became a highly popular and instantly recognizable presence of European cinema.

==Stardom==
[[File:Musidora - Irma Vep - Les Vampires.jpg|thumb|200px|Musidora as the character "Irma Vep" in the 1915–1916 serial ''[[Les Vampires]]'']]
Beginning in 1915, Musidora began appearing in the successful Feuillade-directed serial ''Les Vampires'' as Irma Vep (an anagram of "vampire"), a cabaret singer, opposite [[Édouard Mathé]] as crusading journalist Philippe Guerande. Contrary to the title, ''Les Vampires'' was not actually about vampires, but about a criminal-gang-run-secret-society inspired by the exploits of the real-life [[Bonnot Gang]]. Vep, besides playing a leading role in the Vampires' crimes, also spends two episodes under the hypnotic control of Moreno, a rival criminal who makes her his lover and induces her to assassinate the Grand Vampire.<ref name="Greenfield-Original-Goths">{{cite web |author1=Bishop T. Allen Greenfield |title=Les Vampires, Musidora and the Vamp World of the Forgotten Original Goths |url=http://www.lesvampires.org/mirrorsportal/lesV_greenfield.html |website=LesVampires.org |access-date=5 July 2022 |date=2007}}</ref>

The series was an immediate success with French cinema-goers and ran in 10 installments until 1916. After the ''Les Vampires'' serial, Musidora starred as adventuress Diana Monti (aka governess "Marie Verdier") in ''[[Judex (1916 film)|Judex]]'', another popular Feuillade serial filmed in 1916 but delayed for release until 1917. Though not intended to be [[avant-garde]], ''Les Vampires'' and ''Judex'' were lauded by [[Louis Aragon]] and [[Andre Breton]] in the 1920s for the films' elements of surprise, fantasy/science fiction, unexpected juxtapositions and visual ''non sequiturs.'' Filmmakers [[Fritz Lang]], [[Luis Buñuel]], [[Georges Franju]], [[Alain Resnais]], and [[Olivier Assayas]] have cited ''Les Vampires'' and ''Judex'' as influencing them in their desires to become directors.

==Other works==
At a time when many women in the film industry were confined to acting, Musidora achieved a degree of success as a producer and director. Musidora became a film producer and director under the tutelage of her mentor, Louis Feuillade. Between the late 1910s and early 1920s, she directed ten films, all of which are lost with the exception of two: 1922's ''Soleil et Ombre'' and 1924's ''La Terre des Taureaux'', both of which were filmed in Spain. In Italy, she produced and directed ''La Flamme Cachee'' based on the work of her friend [[Colette]]. In the same year, she co-wrote (with Colette) and co-directed (with Eugenio Perego) ''La vagabonda'' based on Colette's [[The Vagabond (novel)|novel of the same name]].

==Later life==
[[File:Musidora Graffiti.jpg|thumb|right|A [[graffiti]] mural on a [[rapid-transit]] in tribute to Musidora.]]
After her career as an actress faded, she focused on writing and producing. Her last film was an homage to her mentor Feuillade titled ''La Magique Image'' in 1950, which she both directed and starred in. Late in her life, she would occasionally work in the ticket booth of the [[Cinémathèque Française]]—few patrons realized that the older woman in the foyer might be starring in the film they were watching.

Musidora died in Paris, France in 1957<ref name="lemonde.fr-1957/12/12">{{cite news |title=La mort de Musidora |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1957/12/12/la-mort-de-musidora_2338577_1819218.html |access-date=5 July 2022 |work=[[Le Monde]] |date=12 December 1957 |language=fr}}</ref> and was buried in the Cimetière de Bois-le-Roi.<ref>[https://www.landrucimetieres.fr/spip/spip.php?article4441 landrucimetieres.fr]</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Musidora |url=http://womeninhistorytours.com/musidora.htm |website=Spirited Women in History Tours |access-date=5 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030129062242/http://www.womeninhistorytours.com/musidora.htm |archive-date=29 January 2003}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Musidora married Dr. Clément Marot on 20 April 1927. The union lasted 15 years and produced one child, Clément Marot Jr. (1928&ndash;2010). The couple divorced in 1944.

==Selected filmography==
[[File:Les Vampires - Irma Vep (Mlle Musidora).png|thumb|right|Musidora (Irma Vep) in ''[[Les Vampires]]'' (1915).]]
* ''[[Les misères de l'aiguille]]'' (1914)
* ''Severo Torelli'' (1914)
* ''[[Les Vampires]]'' (1915)
* ''[[Judex (1916 film)|Judex]]'' (1916)
* ''[[The Jackals (1917 film)|The Jackals]]'' (1917)
* ''The Vagabond'' (1918)
* ''[[Mademoiselle Chiffon]]'' (1919)
* ''Pour don Carlos'' (1920) Written, co-directed, and co-starring Musidora.
* ''Vincenta'' (1920) Written, directed, and starring Musidora in the title role.
* ''Sol y sombra'' (1922) Co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Musidora.
* ''Le berceau de dieu'' (1926)

==Works==
<!--  1889 – 1957 -->
* Musidora,  "Vicenta". Comoedia illustré (15 February 1920): 207-208.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora,  "Comment j’ai tourné Don Carlos". Ève (30 January 1921): 10.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora-[[Pierre Louÿs]] : une amitié amoureuse : récit et correspondances, 1914–1924 {{oclc|1236010043}}
* Musidora,  "Grandes Enquètes d’Ève: Comment je suis devenue Torera". Ève (28 September 1924): 11–18.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora,  "En Amour tout est possible". Paris: Éditions Eugène Figuière, 1928. {{oclc|469033921}}
* Musidora,  "Arlequin et Anabella, roman"., 1928. {{oclc|469033903}}
* Musidora,  "Paroxysmes. De l’amour à la mort". Paris: Éditions Eugène Figuière, 1934.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora,  "Auréoles : poésies scandées". Paris: Éditions Arnaud, 1939. (Préface de Wilfrid Lucas.) {{oclc|759756149}}
* Musidora,  "La Vie d’une vamp", Ciné-Mondial 42–48 (12 June – 17 July 1942): n.p.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora,  "La vie sentimentale de George Sand". Paris: Éditions de la Revue moderne, 1946. {{oclc|66135217}}
* Musidora, Souvenirs sur [[Pierre Louÿs]]. Muizon: Éditions "À L’écart", 1984.<ref name="wfpp-musidora">{{cite web |title=Musidora |url=https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-musidora/ |website=[[Women Film Pioneers Project]] |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Musidora |title=Souvenirs sur Pierre Louÿs |date=1984 |publisher=Editions "A l'Ecart" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l69cAAAAMAAJ |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/8520">{{cite web |author1=Musidora |title=Souvenirs sur Pierre Louys |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/8520 |publisher=Éditions À L’écart   |location= [[Muizon]] |access-date=5 July 2022 |date=1984 |via= National Library of Australia |quote=Limited ed. of 200 copies.  Unbound; leaves loosely inserted in paper cover.  Library's copy no. 123 of limited ed. of 200.}}</ref><ref name="norman.hrc.utexas.edu-00297">{{cite web |last1=Barney |first1=Natalie Clifford |last2=Blanche |first2=Jacques-Emile |last3=Bracquemond |first3=Félix |last4=Du Bert |first4=Marthe |last5=Erlanger |first5=Camille |last6=Farrère |first6=Claude |last7=Heredia |first7=Louise de |last8=Lebey |first8=André |last9=Louis |first9=Georges |last10=Loviot |first10=Louis |last11=Moulié |first11=Charles |last12=Quillot |first12=Maurice |last13=Roland |first13=Claudine |last14=Sherard |first14=Robert Harborough |title=Pierre Louÿs: An Inventory of His Papers |url=https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00297 |website=Carlton Lake Collection |publisher=[[Harry Ransom Center]] |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>
* Musidora, Interview with Renée Sylvaire. Manuscript. Committee on Historical Research Collection (Fonds Commission des Recherches Historiques), CHR29-B1. Bibliothèque du Film, Cinémathèque Française.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>
* Musidora,  "Colette et le Cinéma Muet". In Patrick Cazals, Musidora. La dixième muse. Paris: Éditions Henry Veryier, 1978. 195–199.<ref name="wfpp-musidora"/>

==Further reading==
<!-- [[:fr:Musidora (actrice)#Bibliographie]] -->
*Patrick Cazals, (2020) ''Musidora-Pierre Louÿs: Une amitié amoureuse'', Paris: Éditions du Horla.<ref>{{cite web |title=Champreux, Jacques (1930-2020) |url=http://www.jeunecinema.fr/spip.php?article3924 |website=Revue Jeune Cinema |quote=JC n°416 – été 2022}}<!-- http://www.lesfilmsduhorla.com/films-dvd-livres/musidora-la-dixieme-muse-%e2%80%a2-livre-dvd/ --></ref>
* {{cite book |last1=Aurouet |first1=Carole |last2=Cherqui |first2=Marie-Claude |last3=Véray |first3=Laurent |title=Musidora, qui êtes-vous? |date=2022-09-29 |publisher=Gremese Editore |location=Rome, Italy |isbn=978-2-36677-303-3}}
* [[Colette]] (2014) ''Un Bien Grand Amour: Lettres À Musidora 1908–1953'' – L'Herne<!-- https://fr.shopping.rakuten.com/offer/buy/236131663/correspondance-colette-de-colette.html 
 Résumé : Ces lettres, introuvables par ailleurs, constituent une série de portraits et de souvenirs de l'auteur, ainsi qu'une correspondance fournie entre elle et Musidora. En 2011, l'Herne avait consacré à la femme écrivain un copieux Cahier qui creusait la singularité et la modernité de l'oeuvre de Colette, bâtie à l'écart des grands mouvements littéraires et idéologiques de la première moitié du XXe siècle. La même année était paru J'aime être gourmande (coll. Carnets), quelques pages écrites par l'auteur lorsqu'elle était journaliste au magazine Marie-Claire et dans lesquelles elle donne sa définition d'un "vrai gourmet". Avec cette série de textes à paraître, les Éditions de l'Herne continuent de révéler d'autres facettes de l'écrivaine éprise de liberté, tout en véhiculant une image moderne de sa pensée et son oeuvre. -->
* {{cite book |last1=Förster |first1=Annette |title=Women in the Silent Cinema: Histories of Fame and Fate |date=2017 |publisher=[[Amsterdam University Press]] |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789048524518 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/0d1d1c6f-ace1-451d-8bd6-7e6dd860a617/9789048524518.pdf <!-- https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/23348  https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43979  https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/22294  https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1zqrmpg.12  --> |access-date=5 July 2022 |doi=10.5117/9789089647191|s2cid=214501361 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Kristine J. |title=Irma Vep, Vamp in the City: Mapping the Criminal Feminine in Early French Serials |publisher=Duke University Press |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/728/chapter/134447/Irma-Vep-Vamp-in-the-CityMapping-the-Criminal|doi=10.1215/9780822383840-008 |date=31 October 2002|s2cid=191874477 }}
* {{cite journal|first1= Vicki 
 |last1= Callahan
 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31114622
 | title        =  Screening Musidora: Inscribing Indeterminacy in Film History 
 |journal= Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies
 |publisher= Duke University Press 
 |volume= 16
 |number= 3
 |date= 2001
 |pages= 58–81 
 |doi=10.1215/02705346-16-3_48-59
|s2cid= 144978008 
 }}
* {{cite book 
 |first1= Vicki 
 |last1= Callahan
 | title        = Zones of Anxiety: Movement, Musidora, And The Crime Serials of Louis Feuillade 
 |location= Detroit
 |publisher= Wayne State University Press 
 |series=Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series 
 |date=2005
 |isbn= 978-0-81432-855-2 <!-- 9780814328552 9780814337370 -->
 |oclc=849944925
 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/204764/pdf
}}
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 |author=Patrick Cazals 
 | trans-title  = 
 | title        = Musidora, la dixième muse 
 |location=Paris 
 |publisher=Henri Veyrier 
 |date=1978 
 |isbn=2-85199-185-X
 |quote=filmographie établie par Francis Lacassin
}}
* {{cite book 
 |first1=Annette 
 |last1= Förster 
 | title        = Women in the Silent Cinema: Histories of Fame and Fate 
 |location= Amsterdam 
 |publisher=[[Amsterdam University Press]] 
 |series=Framing Film 
 |date=2017 
 |isbn= 978-9-0896-4719-1 
 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1zqrmpg
}}
* {{cite book  
 |language=fr
 |author=Françoise Giraudet 
 | trans-title  = 
 | title        = Musidora: un certain regard 
 |location=Rennes 
 |publisher=Françoise Giraudet 
 |date=2012 
 |isbn= 978-2-9535156-3-3 
}}
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 |author1=[[:fr:Philippe d'Hugues]] 
 |author2=[[:fr:Michel Marmin]] 
 |author3=[[:fr:Jean Mitry]] 
 |author4=[[:fr:Jacques Richard (réalisateur)|:fr:Jacques Richard]] 
 | trans-title  = 
 | title        = Le Cinéma français – le muet 
 |publisher= [[:fr:Éditions Atlas]]
 |date=1986 
 |isbn=2-7312-0462-1
}}
* Lacassin, Francis (November 1970) ''Musidora'', Anthologie du cinéma, supplément à ''L'Avant-Scène du Cinéma'' n° 108, 
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 |author2=Fontaine de la Mare 
 |author1=[[:fr:Daniel Chocron]] 
 | trans-title  = 
 | title        = Moi Musidora, reine du cinéma 
 |location=Paris 
 |publisher=La Lucarne des écrivains
 |date=2019 
 |isbn= 978-2-37673-023-1<!-- 2376730236 -->
}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Mardi 22 octobre 2019 à 20h : cabaret Musidora avec le duo Bal tragique |url=https://lalucarnedesecrivains.wordpress.com/2019/10/14/mardi-22-octobre-2019-a-20h-cabaret-musidora-avec-le-duo-bal-tragique/ |website=La Lucarne des Écrivains |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=fr-FR |date=14 October 2019}}</ref>
* {{cite book  
 |language=fr
 |author=Hélène Tierchant 
 | trans-title  = 
 | title        = Musidora, la première vamp 
 |location= Paris 
 |publisher= Éditions Télémaque 
 |series=Les influentes 
 |date=2014 
 |isbn= 978-2-7533-0187-0
}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Ezra |first1=Elizabeth |title=The case of the phantom fetish: Louis Feuillade's Les Vampires |journal=Screen |date=1 January 2006 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=201–211 |doi=10.1093/screen/hjl016|s2cid=192240118 |hdl=1893/342 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Picherit |first1=Hervé |title=Making a Modernist Masterpiece: The Elusive Location of Cultural Significance in Les Vampires |journal=Modernism/Modernity |date=2018 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=655–681 |doi=10.1353/mod.2018.0054|s2cid=149666462 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Chazal |first1=Serge |title=Les Vampires |journal=Belphégor. Littératures populaires et culture médiatique |date=2002 |volume=1 |issue=2 |hdl=10222/47655 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10222/47655|issn=1499-7185}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Keller |first1=Damien |title=Les Vampires de Louis Feuillade (1915–1916) et les lettres de l'épouvante |journal=Épistolaire. Revue de l'A.I.R.E. |date=2010 |issue=36 |pages=99 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00627740 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lacassin |first1=Francis |title=Maître des lions et des vampires, Louis Feuillade |date=1995 |publisher=P. Bordas |oclc=34559266 |isbn=978-2-86311-271-7 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/1895_0769-0959_1996_num_20_1_1183_t1_0149_0000_2 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lascault |first1=Gilbert |title=Les Vampires de Louis Feuillade: soeurs et frères de l'effroi |date=2008 |publisher=Yellow now |location=[[Crisnée]]  |oclc=494032698|isbn=978-2-87340-230-3 |language=fr}}
* {{cite book |last1=Leplatre |first1=Olivier |editor1-last=Boissiéras |editor1-first=Fabienne |title=Rencontres 41: Dire le désordre |date=2012 |isbn=9782812408786 |url=https://classiques-garnier.com/dire-le-desordre.html |chapter=Le désordre à la lettre : l'anagramme dans Les Vampires de Louis Feuillade |publisher=Classiques Garnier |language=fr}}
;Cahiers Musidora
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 | series        = Cahiers Musidora
 |volume=1
 |author=Les amis de Musidora
 | trans-title  = 
 |title=De Jeanne Roques à Musidora 
 |location=[[Bois-le-Roi, Seine-et-Marne]] 
 |publisher=Éditions Les Amis de Musidora 
 |date=December 2016
 |isbn= 978-2-9559-6560-3
}}
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 | series        = Cahiers Musidora
 |volume=2
 |author=Les amis de Musidora
 | trans-title  = 
 |title=Musidora, Colette, Feuillade, le cinéma et la Grande Guerre
 |location=[[Bois-le-Roi, Seine-et-Marne]] 
 |publisher=Éditions Les Amis de Musidora 
 |date=July 2018 
 |isbn=978-2-9559-6561-0
}}
* {{cite book 
 |language=fr
 | series        = Cahiers Musidora
 |volume=3
 |author=Les amis de Musidora
 | trans-title  = 
 |title=Musidora, pionnière et reine du cinéma (1916-1926), Colette, Pierre Benoît, Jaime de Lasuen, Antonio Canero, Pour Don Carlos, Sol y Sombra, La Tierra de los toros
 |location=[[Bois-le-Roi, Seine-et-Marne]] 
 |publisher=Éditions Les Amis de Musidora 
 |date=March 2019 
 |isbn=978-2-9559-6562-7
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|0615736}}
* {{IMDb title|9605978|Musidora, la dixième muse (2013)}} TV Documentary Movie
* [https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-musidora/ Musidora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803032740/https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-musidora/ |date=3 August 2019 }} at the Women Film Pioneers Project
* [https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/musidora-1889-1957 Musidora 1889–1957] – [[Encyclopedia.com]]
* {{Find a Grave|8991394}}
* [https://calindex.eu/actreal.php?nar=2860 Musidora] – Calindex
* [http://www.cineressources.net/repertoires/archives/fonds.php?id=musidora Musidora] [[Fonds]] [[Cinémathèque Française|La Cinémathèque française]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musidora}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1957 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century French actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from Paris]]
[[Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery]]
[[Category:French women film directors]]
[[Category:Film directors from Paris]]
[[Category:French film actresses]]
[[Category:French silent film actresses]]
[[Category:French stage actresses]]
[[Category:Women film pioneers]]