Astré Desrives' Short Film 'Héroïnes' Reimagines Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore's Queer Resistance

Astré Desrives' short film 'Héroïnes', screened at the Sicilia Queer Filmfest, reimagines the WWII resistance of artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore on Jersey. The film uses a queer, dreamlike language rather than documentary, drawing from Cahun's nightmares to avoid didacticism. Cahun (born Susy Schwob) and Moore (born Suzanne Malherbe) were Jewish, lesbian surrealists who resisted the Nazi occupation by distributing subversive leaflets, posing as eccentric spinsters. Their gender-fluid performances and multiple aliases, including 'der soldat ohne namen', allowed them to evade capture for four years. Desrives blends their story with pop culture references, such as a leap from a cliff reminiscent of Thelma & Louise. The film references Cahun's 1920s novella collection 'Héroïnes', which explores gender fluidity. Cahun and Moore's archives, considered 'pornographic' by Nazis, were inventoried by François Leperlier in 1972 after Moore's suicide. The duo had connections to Sylvia Beach, Adrienne Monnier, Gertrude Stein, and Alice Toklas in 1920s Paris, and later found tolerance within Surrealism, though they rejected its traditional gender roles.