Line #2 Film/LaRoue


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/laroue.jpg]]
2	->''"I know that Creation is a Great Wheel which cannot move without crushing someone!"''
3	-->-- '''Creator/VictorHugo''', as quoted at the start of the film
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5	''La Roue'' ("The Wheel") is a 1923 French silent film written and directed by Abel Gance, who would go on to write and direct ''[[Film/Napoleon1927 Napoléon]]''. The "wheel" of the title is a recurring motif throughout the film, and is ultimately a metaphor for life itself.
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7	After widowed railroad engineer Sisif finds an orphaned baby girl named Norma, he adopts her to raise alongside his biological son Elie. Fifteen years later, SheIsAllGrownUp, and Sisif is acting like the BoyfriendBlockingDad. In truth, he is attracted to his own adopted daughter. Elie, who has become a violin maker, is also attracted to Norma because of course he is. Sisif makes the mistake of revealing the truth to unscrupulous businessman Jacques de Hersan, who is (you guessed it) attracted to Norma. After a bit of {{Blackmail}}, Hersan gets Norma's hand in marriage and takes her away to live with him in Paris. Meanwhile, Sisif's eyesight is damaged in an accident, and he is reassigned to run a funicular train in the Alps. Norma, who is unhappy in her marriage, visits the same area with her jealous husband. Suffice it to say that their reunion with Sisif and Elie is not a happy one.
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9	Upon its original release, ''La Roue'' came in at a whopping 32 reels, running for either (sources are conflicting on this) seven and a half or nine hours. While the 1923 theatrical cut distributed more widely ran for 140 minutes, the most frequently-seen and circulated version currently in existence is "only" four and a half hours, although a 2019 restoration added over two further hours of rediscovered footage to yield a 'full cut' (or the closest possible equivalent modern audiences may ever see) clocking in at an astounding ''six hours and 57 minutes''.
10	----
11	!!This film has the examples of:
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13	* TheAlcoholic: Sisif drinks to deal with his problems. And he has a lot of problems.
14	* BornInTheWrongCentury: Disliking the hectic modern life of TheRoaringTwenties, Elie wishes he had lived during TheMiddleAges. He has {{Imagine Spot}}s in which he and Norma are engaging in CourtlyLove with appropriate period costumes.
15	* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Sisif doesn't like other men looking at Norma nor does he like her dressing in a way that's likely to get their attention. [[PervertDad He has his reasons.]]
16	* {{Blackmail}}: Sisif tells Hersan the truth, only for Hersan to use it as blackmail in order to get Norma's hand in marriage.
17	* BungledSuicide: Sisif tries to commit suicide by laying on the railroad tracks, but the train is stopped in time.
18	-->''"So this must be hell! I can't even die!"''
19	** See also: IfICantHaveYou
20	* CallingTheOldManOut: Elie calls out Sisif for lying about where Norma came from.
21	* CrazyJealousGuy: Hersan is very jealous of Sisif and Elie.
22	* DeathByChildbirth: Sisif's wife died giving birth to their son Elie.
23	* ForeignLookingFont: For Elie's medieval {{Imagine Spot}}s, the intertitles are written in the Old English Blackletter font.
24	* FortuneTeller: Sisif has his hand read by a palm reader at one point.
25	* HaveAGayOldTime: "You're turning your head again, Norma. Not feeling gay today?"
26	* HeartwarmingOrphan: Norma starts off as one.
27	* HypocriticalHumor: "Me, Machefer, stoker for a drunk like that? I'd be risking my life!" Machefer then proceeds to chug a bottle of his own.
28	* IfICantHaveYou: Sisif tries to crash the train in the hopes of killing himself and Norma (and everyone else on the train, but who cares about them, right?) rather than letting her marry Hersan.
29	* TheIngenue: Norma, like many, many other silent-movie heroines.
30	* LiteralCliffhanger: When Elie and Hersan fight on top of a cliff, Elie goes over the edge, leaving him clinging on for dear life. [[DisneyVillainDeath He eventually loses his grip.]]
31	* MaleGaze: When Sisif is watching Norma swing, the shots from his POV are close-ups of her shapely legs.
32	* AMinorKidroduction: The beginning of the film features Norma and Elie as toddlers.
33	* MutualKill: In their cliffside confrontation, Elie and Hersan pretty much kill each other.
34	* NotBloodSiblings: Elie was low-key attracted to Norma before he found out they weren't biologically related. After he does find out, he realizes that he wanted to hook up with her all along.
35	* OrphansPlotTrinket: Subverted. Norma came with a necklace that reveals her name, but Sisif apparently never showed it to her. In fact, she never even finds out that she was adopted.
36	* ReassignedToAntarctica: Due to his worsening eyesight, Sisif is reassigned to run the funicular at Mont Blanc. Later on, he goes entirely blind and has to give up that job as well.
37	* TheRemake: The film received a sound remake in 1957.
38	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Across seven hours, Norma is pretty much the only female character who matters.
39	* StealingTheCredit: Hersan takes credit for Sisif's inventions.
40	* SwingLowSweetHarriet: Sisif becomes attracted to Norma when he sees her doing this.

Context Film / LaRoue