Mouchette
1967
Based on the novel by George Barnanos. Tells the story of Mouchette, a young girl who is neglected by her terminally ill mother and her abusive alcoholic father. When she meets with a local hunter, her tragic fate would seem to be sealed. Read more
| Starring | Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Marie Cardinal, Paul Hebert |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Bresson |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
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Mouchette
Based on the novel by George Barnanos. Tells the story of Mouchette, a young girl who is neglected by her terminally ill mother and her abusive alcoholic father. When she meets with a local hunter, her tragic fate would seem to be sealed.
| Starring | Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert, Marie Cardinal, Paul Hebert, Jean Vimenet |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Bresson |
| Studio | NOUVEAUX PICTURES |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 18 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, World Cinema |
| Language | French |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 22 Nov 2004 Production year: 1967 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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A documentary fidelity underpins Robert Bresson's rigorous, though accessible, adaptation of Georges Bernanos's novel. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) inhabits a world of spiritual and physical brutality. School and family offer nothing, and the comfort of strangers leads to rejected charity and rape, providing solace through cruelty. With sparse dialogue, this characteristically elliptical film never sentimentalises and contains Bresson's most lyrical sequence when, from a single act of generosity, Nortier relishes a dodgem ride, rebelling against her pious, alcoholic father and God. In the devastating climax, Nortier accepts her destiny, tumbling into a river and oblivion to the strains of Monteverdi's music; her final despairing act leaves us poleaxed in its compassionate power and beauty.
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Adapted from a Georges Bernanos story, Mouchette describes the life and tribulations of a poor, barely mature peasant... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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16 out of 16 people found this review helpful
great technique, but...
A poor young girl is unloved and eventually abandoned by her family and the community she lives in.
Bresson is widely acknowledged as a great filmmaker, and I had high hopes for this film. Indeed, his cinematic techniques are beautifully deployed - film schools could probably use this film for brilliant examples of montage (editing), composition, and lighting. There is very little dialogue, and the simple story is effectively told using strking but always relevant images. If you are at all interested in a kind of purity of technique you should certainly see it.
However, it doesn't matter how good it looks if the subject matter is ultimately unsatisfying. Having also seen Bresson's Au Hasard, Balthazar, I get phenomenally irrated with his female protagonists. They are victimized, tormented, weak, and they just sit and take it. It's not unlike watching a film by Lars von Trier in that respect. I understand that Bresson was strongly Catholic, and there is a lot of symbolism, both visual and thematic, relating to that particular brand of Christianity, and how much you actually enjoy the film may depend on your sympathies in that direction. As an atheist, I find the persistent themes of sacrifice and denial of self and pleasure somewhat overbearing, and this and the coldness of the camera's eye serves to make it a very inhuman (and inhumane) film. I didn't care about any of the characters in the slightest, and was desperate for someone to act like a real human being, instead of wandering around in what looks like a perpetual daze.
A faintly depressing experience. Although I did want to get out my cinecamera. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
16 out of 16 people found this review helpful
great technique, but...
A poor young girl is unloved and eventually abandoned by her family and the community she lives in.
Bresson is widely acknowledged as a great filmmaker, and I had high hopes for this film. Indeed, his cinematic techniques are beautifully deployed - film schools could probably use this film for brilliant examples of montage (editing), composition, and lighting. There is very little dialogue, and the simple story is effectively told using strking but always relevant images. If you are at all interested in a kind of purity of technique you should certainly see it.
However, it doesn't matter how good it looks if the subject matter is ultimately unsatisfying. Having also seen Bresson's Au Hasard, Balthazar, I get phenomenally irrated with his female protagonists. They are victimized, tormented, weak, and they just sit and take it. It's not unlike watching a film by Lars von Trier in that respect. I understand that Bresson was strongly Catholic, and there is a lot of symbolism, both visual and thematic, relating to that particular brand of Christianity, and how much you actually enjoy the film may depend on your sympathies in that direction. As an atheist, I find the persistent themes of sacrifice and denial of self and pleasure somewhat overbearing, and this and the coldness of the camera's eye serves to make it a very inhuman (and inhumane) film. I didn't care about any of the characters in the slightest, and was desperate for someone to act like a real human being, instead of wandering around in what looks like a perpetual daze.
A faintly depressing experience. Although I did want to get out my cinecamera. -
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