Mouchette (1967)
Part of the Robert Bresson Season: Into The Light
| Director: | Robert Bresson |
|---|---|
| Certificate: | BBFC PG |
| Length: | |
| Format: | 35mm |
| Language: | French w. English subtitles |
| Country: | France |
Bresson’s last black and white film. From it’s stunning opening scene Bresson follows the earthy sullen Mouchette through life to the night of the great storm.
PLOT
Faced with a dying mother, an absent, alcoholic father, and a baby brother in need of care, the teenage Mouchette seeks solace in nature and daily routine, a respite from her economic and pubescent turmoil. An essential work of French filmmaking, Bresson’s hugely empathetic drama elevates its trapped protagonist into one of the cinema’s great tragic figures.
It is based on the novel by Georges Bernanos.
REVIEWS
“Robert Bresson plumbs great reservoirs of feeling with Mouchette, one of the most searing portraits of human desperation ever put on film.” – Criterion Collection
“One of Bresson’s twin masterpieces of the mid-sixties” with Au Hasard Balthasar, James Qandt
Sight and Sound’sprestigious critics’ poll placed Mouchette in the top 20 in 1972
Other films in the Robert Bresson Season: Into The Light:
14
Film: The Ladies Of The De Bois De Boulogne (Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne, 1945)
14 Oct 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Bresson’s second feature and his last using professional actors.It’s a devilish take on the love triangle theme. Wonderfully scripted by Jean Cocteau, sexuality takes precedence over salvation.
21
Film: Balthazar (Au Hazard Balthazar) (1966)
21 Oct 2012, 7:39 p.m.
Au hasard Balthazar is “the world in an hour and a half” – French New Wave filmmaker JEAN-LUC GODARD. A masterpiece you will never forget.
11
Film: Money (L'Argent, 1983)
11 Nov 2012, 7:30 p.m.
Bresson’s last film: a natural history of money.