Mouchette
Encyclopedia
Mouchette is a 1967 French film
directed by Robert Bresson
, starring Nadine Nortier, and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel by Georges Bernanos
. "Mouchette" means "little fly" in French. It was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival
, winning the OCIC Award (International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisual).
Mouchette tells the story of a girl entering adolescence, the daughter of a bullying alcoholic father and ailing mother set in a rural French village. One stormy night Mouchette's world changes.
It is a coming of age film which Bresson portrays in his own unique style. According to Bresson, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations."
The Criterion Collection DVD release includes a trailer for this film made by Jean-Luc Godard
.
The film opens with the gamekeeper, Mathieu (Jean Vimenet), watching the poacher, Arsène (Jean-Claude Gilbert) as he sets his snares in the sunlit woods.
Mouchette is first introduced at her school, in bedraggled clothes and oversized clogs, where she is mocked by her classmates and chastised by her teacher, first for refusing to sing, and then for singing off-key. To correct this, her teacher grabs her by the head, orienting Mouchette's ear toward the piano keys, while she strikes the correct note several times.
Later, in a contrast to the misery of her daily life, Mouchette goes to the fair and rides on the bumper cars. She meets a young man who bumps his car into hers several times. She bumps into his a few times. Despite the physical shocks incurred upon her during the activity, Mouchette seems to overlook them, and even likes the young man. Afterwards her father abruptly intervenes, slapping her on the face before she can speak to the boy.
While walking home from school one day, she gets lost in the woods, and must seek shelter in a nearby house when a fierce rainstorm falls. The owner of the house, Arsène, an alcoholic epileptic, fears he has killed a man with whom he had fought, and attempts to use Mouchette as an alibi to disabuse him of the blame. While agreeing to be his alibi, he subsequently rapes her, thereafter leaving for home upon sunrise humiliated by the experience. While later confronted about the fight that Arsène was engaged in, she tries to offer her agreed upon story, having to state reluctantly that she was at his house through the night because they were lovers.
Returning home and finding her mother's condition worsening, she attempts to assuage her fears by comforting her. When her mother eventually succumbs to this sickness, she is brought in by an elderly women who gives to her a dress for her to wear as well as a shroud to cover her mother upon her mourning. As she leaves, and being overcome by the disaster that has befallen her, she goes to a nearby lake, covering herself in the shroud and rolling herself into the water, effectively drowning.
, and plays Arsène in this film.
Sight and Sound’s prestigious critics’ poll placed Mouchette in the top 20 in 1972.
French Film
French Film is a 2008 British comedy film directed by Jackie Oudney and starring Anne-Marie Duff, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton, Douglas Henshall and Eric Cantona. The film was shot in Spring 2007 at various locations around London including Waterloo station and the BFI Southbank.-Plot:Two...
directed by Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, starring Nadine Nortier, and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel by Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos
Georges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. Of Roman Catholic and monarchist leanings, he was a violent adversary to bourgeois thought and to what he identified as defeatism leading to France's defeat in 1940.-Biography:Bernanos was born at Paris, into a family of...
. "Mouchette" means "little fly" in French. It was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival
1967 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Alessandro Blasetti *Georges Lourau *Sergei Bondarchuk *René Bonnell *Jean-Louis Bory *Miklós Jancsó *Claude Lelouch *Shirley MacLaine...
, winning the OCIC Award (International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisual).
Mouchette tells the story of a girl entering adolescence, the daughter of a bullying alcoholic father and ailing mother set in a rural French village. One stormy night Mouchette's world changes.
It is a coming of age film which Bresson portrays in his own unique style. According to Bresson, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations."
The Criterion Collection DVD release includes a trailer for this film made by Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
.
Plot
This is the tale of a young girl whose life is filled with tragedy. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) lives in an isolated rural village with her alcoholic father and bedridden mother, where she is forced to take care of her infant brother and do all of the housework.The film opens with the gamekeeper, Mathieu (Jean Vimenet), watching the poacher, Arsène (Jean-Claude Gilbert) as he sets his snares in the sunlit woods.
Mouchette is first introduced at her school, in bedraggled clothes and oversized clogs, where she is mocked by her classmates and chastised by her teacher, first for refusing to sing, and then for singing off-key. To correct this, her teacher grabs her by the head, orienting Mouchette's ear toward the piano keys, while she strikes the correct note several times.
Later, in a contrast to the misery of her daily life, Mouchette goes to the fair and rides on the bumper cars. She meets a young man who bumps his car into hers several times. She bumps into his a few times. Despite the physical shocks incurred upon her during the activity, Mouchette seems to overlook them, and even likes the young man. Afterwards her father abruptly intervenes, slapping her on the face before she can speak to the boy.
While walking home from school one day, she gets lost in the woods, and must seek shelter in a nearby house when a fierce rainstorm falls. The owner of the house, Arsène, an alcoholic epileptic, fears he has killed a man with whom he had fought, and attempts to use Mouchette as an alibi to disabuse him of the blame. While agreeing to be his alibi, he subsequently rapes her, thereafter leaving for home upon sunrise humiliated by the experience. While later confronted about the fight that Arsène was engaged in, she tries to offer her agreed upon story, having to state reluctantly that she was at his house through the night because they were lovers.
Returning home and finding her mother's condition worsening, she attempts to assuage her fears by comforting her. When her mother eventually succumbs to this sickness, she is brought in by an elderly women who gives to her a dress for her to wear as well as a shroud to cover her mother upon her mourning. As she leaves, and being overcome by the disaster that has befallen her, she goes to a nearby lake, covering herself in the shroud and rolling herself into the water, effectively drowning.
Cast
Besides his preference for non-professional actors, Bresson also liked to cast actors he had never used before. The one major exception is Jean-Claude Guilbert, who had the rôle of Arnold in Au hasard BalthazarAu hasard Balthazar
Au hasard Balthazar, , also known as Balthazar, is a 1966 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Anne Wiazemsky.-Plot:...
, and plays Arsène in this film.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Nadine Nortier | Mouchette |
| Jean-Claude Guilbert | Arsène |
| Marie Cardinal | Mother |
| Paul Hebert Paul Hébert Paul Hébert, OC, CQ is a French Canadian actor. He was awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada on June 29, 1987 for his services to French Canadian entertainment and was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994... |
Father |
| Jean Vimenet | Mathieu |
| Marie Susini | Mathieu's wife |
| Suzanne Huguenin | Layer Out of the Dead |
| Marine Trichet | Louisa |
| Raymonde Chabrun | Grocer |
Critical Reviews
Mouchette is considered as one of the best of Bresson's films by critics.Sight and Sound’s prestigious critics’ poll placed Mouchette in the top 20 in 1972.
External links
- Mouchette in Cine y Revolución (Spanish)