Les Misères de l'aiguille or Miseries of the Needle is an anarchist and feminist film released in 1914, directed by Raphaël Clamour [fr] and produced by Le Cinéma du Peuple.
Published eight years before La Souriante madame Beudet by Germaine Dulac, the film was later rediscovered by historians and restored in 2020 by the Cinémathèque.
[3] Driven to the brink of suicide, she takes her child to the edge of a river, ready to jump, but holds back at the last moment.
[3] The decision to make a feminist film as their first production gradually became evident, largely due to the influence of Lucien Descaves, former vice president of the Ligue Française pour le Droit des Femmes.
[3][5] Additionally, Henriette Tilly, president of the Comité Féminin, the most important anarcha-feminist association in Paris at the time, and Jane Morand, an individualist anarchist, strongly encouraged the cooperative to focus on feminist themes from the outset.
[3][4] Its feminist ambition was clear, as Lucien Descaves wrote in the program accompanying the film:[3][5][8] Whatever is said, women in today's society find themselves in a situation far inferior to that of men.
[8] This fit into a broader reflection aimed at "making visible the material, social, and moral censorship issues" that affected women.