I enjoyed this movie immensely, the photography alone kept me glued to the screen in a way that most Silents don't. I think the poster above was looking for a more realistic film. You just don't get that in these early movies, the technology is too primitive. The films that try to attempt that kind of realism in this period usually fail. Even Newsreel footage from the time looks stagy and contrived. The most sophisticated films IMHO are the ones where the story and direction actually use the jerkiness of the medium to present coincidences for humor or pathos. In the Red Lily we've got both lucky coincidences (the wagon missing the train) and unlucky (innoportune death, the protagonists just missing each other, etc.) As for the realism of the actors' behavior, Jean is in love with an ideal version of Marise, by the end he realizes in the hospital that she is the same woman he fell in love with and that both of them have changed. It's a subtle point.
I don't see any preachiness to this film, none of the characters are all good, they turn their lives around after realizing that their lives have something of value (love, each other). Sunrise, which you recommend I found much preachier than the Red Lily, although it has some of the same themes. City Bad, Country good. Chaste Love and family life is better than Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll etc. For one thing, in Sunrise most of the evils are implied whereas we get a tour of the bars and brothels of Paris to get a taste of the fun, uninhibited side of Paris life as well as its inevitable downside.
I don't see any preachiness to this film, none of the characters are all good, they turn their lives around after realizing that their lives have something of value (love, each other). Sunrise, which you recommend I found much preachier than the Red Lily, although it has some of the same themes. City Bad, Country good. Chaste Love and family life is better than Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll etc. For one thing, in Sunrise most of the evils are implied whereas we get a tour of the bars and brothels of Paris to get a taste of the fun, uninhibited side of Paris life as well as its inevitable downside.