Cenere

Cenere is a 1916 silent film directed by and starring Febo Mari. It is adapted from the 1904 novel by the Nobel Prizewinning Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda. It is notable as the only film performance by of the Italian theater star Eleonora Duse.

When Eleonora Duse was approached in 1916 to appear in a film adaptation of Cenere, she had been absent from performing on stage for seven years. Duse expressed deep respect for the source material and its potential as a film. She later explained her return to acting in this production by stating I have been persuaded to create the character of Rosalia Derios, from the novel by Grazia Deledda, because it seemed to me that in the sorrowful figure of the mother, all sacrifice for her son, a figure moving in an austere and solemn landscape, would assume the total and clear plastic and spiritual significance that the silent theater must force itself to realize. Duse cowrote the screenplay for Cenere with Febo Mari, her director and costar. The film was shot over a fourmonth period on locations across Sardinia. ........

Source: Wikipedia