At the end of the 19th Century in London, the brilliant young doctor Henry Jekyll, the fiancé of Millicent, daughter of Sir George Carew, devotes his life to serving others, providing care to the poor and thereby putting his own life side. His friends are constantly trying to offset this unalterable philanthropy: one evening they result in a seedy cabaret. Unable to submit to temptation, Jekyll invents a potion that can separate the two natures of man: good and evil. After ingested, Jekyll punctually transformed into Mr. Hyde, a lecherous and evil being who embodies the evil part of his personality. Jekyll will repeat the experience but soon will no longer retrace his steps and gradually, Hyde will take over, making him an evil being...

Published in 1886, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrates the misadventures of Dr. Jekyll, an accomplished philanthropist obsessed with his dual personality who, through science strives to separate in him the two facets of his personality - good (Dr. Jekyll) and evil (Mr. Hyde). This character with two faces, which echoes our anthropological duality, became one of the mythical figures of horror literature, alongside Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Count Dracula of Bram Stoker, and it is not wonder, along these two illustrious predecessors, cinema has taken over to bring him to life on the big screen.

Almost a century after its theatrical release, the film by John S. Robertson is praised as one of the best film adaptations of the famous novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Its importance lies not only in the transfigured interpretation of John Barrymore but also in some aspects which will then be taken up in most subsequent versions such as the choice to place the story in Victorian society to emphasize the opposition between the dominant rigid moralism and the subversive individual impulses.

To accompany this classic of the 7th Art, which did not get an original music at the time of its production, Baudime Jam has composed a symphonic score whose orchestration features strings, woodwinds, three trombones, a harp and timpani, in order to fit the victorian and gothic aesthetic of the film.

> The film is presented in its original full version.

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the film

DIRECTOR  John Robertson

YEAR  1920

DURATION  1h22

COMPOSER  Baudime Jam (2015)