Une heure n’est pas qu’une heure

This article focuses on that evening in September 1908 when, in the viewing hall of the old casino of the Grand-Hotel in Cabourg, Marcel Proust attended a showing of moving pictures with a young, nineteen-year-old friend, Marcel Plantevignes. In his memoirs, Plantevignes recalls that letter from Proust where he mentions “that sad September evening in Cabourg.” Did Proust, seated in a straight-backed chair attend what he described as “cinematic Grand-Guignol” in a letter to this young friend who joined him?