Mademoiselle

I gave up one third of the way through and turned to watch the paint dry on the wall. I got tired of Moreaux never changing her crabby facial expression. Whoever thinks this film was sensual must find a constipated expression titillating. If this was part of the French wave they should have flushed completely.

In a village populated only by cowardly fools, reprehensible things often occur such as fires, a flood, poisoning of the water, all caused by one person. Who is the author and why does this mysterious person does these things? You will see a movie not like others, with a sensual Jeanne Moreau, who, in one scene, the only funny one in the whole movie, she squeaks like a puppy. There are people like the character played by Jeanne Moreau in real life. And the actress managed an admirable portrait.

Spoilers herein. French films, even artificially French ones like this, compress all their depth and simplicity of reading together. So that after the first few it becomes so boring you need to invent your own depth. In this case, we are helped a little. The Italian and the fires and the sex and all that is imagined. Moreau knows this and adds some ambiguity to the dark world. Not bad if you can work with the layers as you move through the levels of dreams and remembered visions. And know something the French filmmaker's anxiety about Italian films' claims for more acute verity. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I gave up one third of the way through and turned to watch the paint dry on the wall. I got tired of Moreaux never changing her crabby facial expression. Whoever thinks this film was sensual must find a constipated expression titillating. If this was part of the French wave they should have flushed completely.

This movie, most notable for its authors, Playwright Jean Genet, is a lost classic which one ups Bunuel's Diary of a Chambermaid in its portrayal of the secret twisted desires of the rural french. Jeanne Moreau stars as a teacher in a rural french village. Her secret desire for the Italian logger Manou leads her to acts of brutal destruction on the town. A brilliant story combined with luscious camera work and nearly silent but incredibly tense scenes with Jeanne Moreau lead to making this movie an absolute must see.

First a warning: if you can't stomach any scenes of animal suffering, do yourself a favor and steer clear of this film. I just saw a brand new print of this film. In all its Cinemascope glory, this is a breathtaking film, incredibly photographed and directed. And there are some incredible touches in the telling of this story. My problems with this film derive from a few things: 1. though the goal of this film is to build a dark and compelling yarn of the simple banality of evil, there are ways that you can read this film that really undo that goal, especially as it pertains to the female character at the center of the drama and the way we're ultimately encouraged to view the impetus of her rage, 2. the town ends up being a shadow character which is effective in some ways, but it is also unsettling. No question this is an important film that should be seen. 7.5

I learned about "Mademoiselle" from a "Salon" web interview with cinematographer John Bailey (see link below). He pointed out a remarkable thing—that the film consists entirely of static wide-screen shots. No pans, no zooms, no dollying, just one immaculate, immobile shot after another. That's one reason the film, unpleasant as it may be, has a calm unsettling pace that's the opposite of today's frenetic films. Bailey said: "...the fascinating thing about (Richardson's film) is there's not a single camera movement in the entire film...All the action happens within a static frame. This film is, like, two hours long, and it's absolutely riveting. It's so unlike anything that you would ever see now." from Salon article www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2003/07/03/cinematographers