A quasi-western lacking in bravura episodes, shot in the middle of the desert where the wind constantly blew dust... The film relates in detail the transformation of a fallen woman, a Bovary of the South, splendidly portrayed by a juvenile Lillian Gish, who must confront the harshness of the world symbolised by the ceaseless torment of the wind and sandstorms.

Made at the height of the silent era, the total cinematographic mastery inspired Carlos Grätzer whose music for saxophone, cello and electronics plays on contrasts just as Sjöström's film juxtaposes landscape and faces, close-up shots and hostile, wide-open spaces, where all life is affected by the unceasing wind.

D.R.