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Mouchette

  • 1967
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 21m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
14K
YOUR RATING
Mouchette (1967)
Coming-of-AgeDrama

A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.

  • Director
    • Robert Bresson
  • Writers
    • Georges Bernanos
    • Robert Bresson
  • Stars
    • Nadine Nortier
    • Jean-Claude Guilbert
    • Marie Cardinal
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    14K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Bresson
    • Writers
      • Georges Bernanos
      • Robert Bresson
    • Stars
      • Nadine Nortier
      • Jean-Claude Guilbert
      • Marie Cardinal
    • 54User reviews
    • 66Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins & 1 nomination total

    Photos37

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    Top cast10

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    Nadine Nortier
    Nadine Nortier
    • Mouchette
    Jean-Claude Guilbert
    Jean-Claude Guilbert
    • Arsène
    Marie Cardinal
    Marie Cardinal
    • Mouchette's Mother
    Paul Hébert
    Paul Hébert
    • Mouchette's Father
    • (as Paul Hebert)
    Jean Vimenet
    • Mathieu - gamekeeper
    Marie Susini
    • Mathieu's wife
    Liliane Princet
    • Schoolteacher
    Suzanne Huguenin
    • Undertaker
    Marine Trichet
    • Luisa
    Raymonde Chabrun
    • Grocery Shop-owner
    • Director
      • Robert Bresson
    • Writers
      • Georges Bernanos
      • Robert Bresson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews54

    7.713.6K
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    Featured reviews

    10mflamman

    Sublime, Pure, Magnificent

    Sublime film from Robert Bresson!

    Actually it was my first encounter with Bresson's work, five or six weeks ago. I was so eager to see it...Bresson's films ("Mouchette" and "Au hasard Balthazar") haven't disappointed me- to see the least!

    "Mouchette" is such a pure film, so sublime. So powerful. When I saw this film, it really blew me away totally. So overwhelming. But now, weeks after that experience (I saw that films more than once, btw) it's still beginning to gain more power and emotion.

    "Mouchette" has such overwhelming, graceful, brilliant images, shots and scenes. The opening scene may be the best ever: brilliant and pure, it tells everything you will see in the next hour and twenty minutes. The use of the music, sublime sounds of Monteverdi, is unique, powerful and brilliant. No more than- what is it?- ten seconds or so it can be heard. The opening scene is so short...

    That's the power of Bresson: images, sounds, scenes are presented in such a brilliant way. When we are beginning to be attached to them, other images and shots are already presented. As a viewer, you can't really be attached totally by them. That's way these images, shots, scenes will be in your mind long after the film: all things, all scenes and situations, and especially all emotions (if they are shown at all) are shown in actually too short a time, that you, as a viewer, will be forced to "finish" them. You are forced to locate the emotions not shown, to locate the situations and details which are only suggestively shown. Bresson's editing is just brilliant, bt it may take some time before you are aware of that.

    Some of the most brilliant scenes ever are presented here: Mouchette, forced to go into church by her father; Mouchette's brilliantly and superbly simple introduction to the viewer. Most notable for me, besides the ending scene of course, is the scene with Mouchette in the dodgem cars, having her only small feelings of joy and relieve. The expressions and emotions shown in this really magnificent scene, maybe the best and most emotional I've ever witnessed, are to diverse to even describe them. Just watch this scene...

    Nadine Nortier, playing Mouchette, blew me away with her magnificent acting. So pure, sublime, graceful and heartfelt. One of the most striking peaces of "acting" I've ever seen...!

    This superb film will be in my mind for ever, just like "Au hasard Balthazar". Nobody, not even the best like Dreyer, Ozu, Bergman and Tarkovsky, can present stories, images and "emotions" in such a superbly simple, transcendental and pure way as Bresson.

    Masterpiece!
    6bartkl-1

    Has qualities, but fails to move me emotionally due to poetic attempts

    After I watched Bresson's "Au Hasard Balthazar" a few years ago, I was advised by a friend to watch "Mouchette" next. I told him I wasn't particularly struck by the character development and the portrayal of humans and emotions in the former, and learned that I had the exact same problems with the latter.

    The girl is amazing. Her justified rebellious behavior and her unique and authentic appearance really shine in this movie. Also, the photography in the film is very well done, as I would have dared to expect from Bresson. Technically, this movie certainly is very good.

    However, the way people interact in this movie often doesn't make sense to me. And I know movies aren't obligated to be realistic, but this movie certainly has a lot of ingredients on board to make you believe it's trying to be realistic. It's not an absurd or surrealistic film where you won't have to expect to be able to completely understand emotions and social situations. The consequence is - to me at least - that my compassion doesn't know how to handle the situation. First something sad happens, and I get moved, but then there's weird silences or poetic expressions (not necessarily verbal) which don't fit the realistic context and interrupt the immersion if you ask me.

    Another friend of mine with whom I discussed this topic mentioned a good point however: perhaps you should let go of the expectation to be moved emotionally. Doesn't the movie just try to display the story, possibly telling you to accept life for what it is without necessarily trying to move you? Well observed, it's possible. I still believe the movie could benefit strongly if it was more emotionally involving though.

    I have had this discussion with a lot of people about several movies, and it seems nobody either understands or agrees with me on this subject. Therefore, I'm even more aware of how subjective this point of view is. Obviously, this movie isn't a classic for no reason and I'm sure it has plenty of qualities that let people appreciate it so much. Not entirely my cup of tea though.
    10marcosaguado

    The Face of Nadine Nortier

    Just like I remembered. The face of Nadine Nortier has not changed. The unbelievable "Mouchette" in this unforgettable Robert Bresson masterpiece. I hadn't seen the film since I was a teen ager. I saw it again last night and as if by magic it felt more contemporary today than it did then and then, let me tell you, it felt pretty real in its own rigorous lyrical style. What a shockingly wonderful effect a film like this could have on teen agers today. To stay with a character who takes us with nothing more than her naked truth through a landscape of absolute desolation. Her innocence intact, in spite of the outrage. Her ultimate act as breathtaking as anything we have ever seen on the screen, before or since. I tried to show the film to a group of twentysomethings, all of them walked away within the first fifteen minutes. All except one, a boy of 21, he had escaped Bosnia with his brother a few short years ago. As the film ended I looked at him. He was silent. He spoke without looking at me "can I see it again?" That's at the center of the experience that provides this film. "Mouchette" is meant for everyone, but it'll touch only some.
    8Sergeant_Tibbs

    Cathartic and powerful representation of the inevitable moral dilemmas and frustrations of life.

    Until now Robert Bresson has been one of those classic directors who have failed to connect with me. With Au Hasard Balthazar and Pickpocket, I've found his style over-simplified, bland and plodding. While Balthazar didn't work for me at all, Pickpocket had moments where it showed potential but then it was quickly squandered and taken in a different direction. Here with Mouchette, his style is finally working. It's a film utterly drenched in sorrow and pain. Through the protagonists' squirming and rebelling from her struggles, her actions are a catharsis from the frustrations of life and when she's punished for them, it digs deep. Although the storytelling techniques are similar to the films I didn't care much for, what elevates Mouchette is the passionate performances and the crisp photography. While I do regret that it's so brief, Mouchette is a brilliant portrayal of a truly tragic figure that faces the hardships and inevitable moral dilemmas of life. I'm very glad Bresson has warmed up to me as he's got many films I'm really looking forward to, such as A Man Escaped and Lancelot du Lac.

    8/10
    7muddlyjames

    "compassionate", "unflinching", or just a snare?

    It seems entirely appropriate that the film opens with the metaphor of birds being snared as this seems to apply not only to Mouchette's life, but to Bresson's approach to the viewer as well.

    For what, after all, is the director attempting to do here? Are we really to regard this as an unblinking gaze into the life of an abused, outcast girl? If so, why is Bresson so intent on excluding even the most fleeting moments of joy (or at least humor) that enter even the darkest of lives (I believe a philosopher once said "alas, joy too must have its day")? It is pretty telling that the one scene involving happiness for Mouchette is the most monotonous and lifeless in the picture (the bumper cars). Not only are we not allowed to experience her joy, but Bresson is careful to distance us from the real experience of her pain as well. This is done by the use of "gestures" (particularly prominent in Bresson's later films) that "signify" a character's experience rather than giving us the person's individualized emotional and visceral reactions to events. Thus the assault on Mouchette is shown in a distant, almost pantomimed manner, her relationship with her father is suggested by dropping coins in his hand, a disembodied hand slapping her face, etc. So, are we really to identify with Mouchette, to feel her pain, seeing how her experience of life intersects with our own in only the most symbolic, muted fashion? Is this really "compassion" and is this really Bresson's purpose?

    Or is Mouchette a figure that Bresson uses (and dehumanizes), as literally every character in the movie uses her, to achieve other purposes? In this case the selling of a particular view of the world. One which sees the world as a snare, both in its joy and its pain, that is "saved" only by the (symbolic) suffering of the innocent, and transcended/transformed only by death. In other words a viewpoint that that advocates looking beyond (or turning away from)life to find "transcendent" truths. A view based on judgement rather than acceptance. And if this is "the truth" why must so much of what we experience as truth (such as joy, intimacy, occasional feelings of "oneness" with the world) be so forcibly excluded? Are these all really illusions, the world simply a snare? And without acceptance of ALL of Mouchette's reality can she,or any of us, really be redeemed?

    Yes, Bresson is a meticulous, incisive, and occasionally powerful filmaker. But is he really honest? Are there some TRUTHS that he can't face (and so desperately restricts his view). In MOUCHETTE we are a little more aware of the puppeteer's strings than usual. 7 out of 10.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      It was rumored for years that the trailer for this film was by Jean-Luc Godard, and he has recently confirmed this by programming it in a self-curated retrospective of his work. The trailer is virtually a miniature essay on (or subversion of) the film, jarringly inter-cutting excerpts from it with a written commentary that calls it "Christian and sadistic."
    • Goofs
      (at around 1 min) The canteen changes position after being dropped.
    • Quotes

      Mouchette: [singing] Hope! Hope is dead, Three days, Columbus said to them, Pointing to the vast sky ahead, That stretched beyond the horizon...

    • Connections
      Edited into Bande-annonce de 'Mouchette' (1967)
    • Soundtracks
      Magnificat
      Written by Claudio Monteverdi

      Performed by Les Chanteurs de St. Eustache

      Conducted by R.P. Émile Martin

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    FAQ

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • March 12, 1970 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Muset
    • Filming locations
      • Apt, Vaucluse, France(landscape scenes)
    • Production companies
      • Argos Films
      • Parc Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 21 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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