Year: 1897
Director: Georges Melies
Country: France
Language: N/A
Georges Melies (1861-1938) was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. He popularized techniques such as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color. His most famous works were A Trip To the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Melies was also one dirty bugger.
Apres Le Bal is a simple presentation of a servant preparing a bath for another woman. A NUDE woman. Woah!
Despite this being a Georges Méliès movie, there are no special effects here. What we get is essentially what amount to a 19th Century strip-tease. Oh, it seems tame in comparison but that madam's booty stirred up trouble with the public and could have landed Melies in hot water (not hot as in sexy, but hot as in troublesome!)
The intent of the film was likely to titillate the gentlemen at the time, although the disrobing is very matter-of-fact. She isn't also completely nude, but rather wears a barely visible stocking to somewhat hide her lady parts (though we do get a lot of butt!). Melies emphasised the voyeuristic quality of the camera and its relationship with the incidents recorded and projected on a screen
It's very telling that Melies actress isn't sickly thin, but has some meat on her bones (mostly her butt). Perhaps this is telling of beauty standards of the time. It's not the most important or entertaining Melies picture, it may not even be the first with nudity, but it's an interesting 1min trip down Cinema history.
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