Review by Snow Leopard

This early Yevgeni Bauer feature is good in itself, but more than that it shows the potential that he would soon realize in the compelling melodramas he was to film in the mid-1910s. In itself, "Twilight of a Woman's Soul" is just a little better than average compared with the dramas being made elsewhere at the time, but there are flashes of the mood and the techniques that soon afterward made Bauer one of the most creative and interesting (if also under-appreciated) film-makers of his time.

Bauer's technique is even more restrained here that it is in his later features, with very sparing (but effective) use of camera movement and other such techniques, with the movie relying more on the lighting, sets, and actors to create its effect.

The story centers on a lonely young aristocratic woman whose search for a purpose in her life is sadly exploited by one of the men whom she tries to help. The rest of the movie focuses on the ways that this one incident affects her life, and the lives of others, in the years that follow. It's the kind of plot that Bauer, in his later features, would examine deeply, and he would learn how to involve the viewer's emotions almost to the breaking point.

This feature never becomes as chilling, as gripping, or as heart-rending as his best movies do. But it is a solid drama, and a drama that also has plenty to say. Bauer soon learned to make his points even more memorably, but this is also worth seeing, especially for anyone who appreciates his unusual and imaginative style.