She retired from acting in 1909, but returned to the stage in 1921 in a series of engagements in both Europe and America. During this interval, in 1916, she made one film "Cenere" ("Ashes"), prints of which still survive. She was very disappointed in her work, and later wrote to the French singer Yvette Guilbert with the request not to see “that stupid thing, because you’ll find nothing, or almost nothing, of me in that film.” There was also a certain amount of professional correspondence between Duse and D. W. Griffith, though ultimately nothing came of this.