Détresse et Charité, released in the United States as The Christmas Angel and in Britain as The Beggar Maiden, is a 1904 French short silent film directed by Georges Méliès. It was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 669–677 in its catalogues.

Plot

At Christmastime, a girl and her family live in poverty; the girl's mother is ill and bedridden. The father asks the girl to go to nearby Paris, and beg for alms. The girl finds a church, but she is pushed aside by the professional beggars working on its steps, and is unable to get alms. She tries to ask for food at a bakery, but is thrown out again. As night falls, she collapses and falls asleep; a rag-and-bone man takes pity on her, shares his piece of bread with her, and gives her his shawl. After thanking the rag-and-bone man and saying goodbye, the girl moves on. Alone in a snowstorm, she collapses again.