Mouchette (1967) - DaaVeeDee

Mouchette (1967) (DVD) (*)

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Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Mono )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 2&4 )

Running Time:
81 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1967 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Robert Bresson

Written By:
Georges Bernanos
Robert Bresson

Actors:
Nadine Nortier ..... Mouchette
Jean-Claude Guilbert ..... Arsène
Marie Cardinal ..... La mère
Paul Hebert ..... Father
Jean Vimenet ..... Mathieu
Marie Susini ..... Mathieu's wife
Suzanne Huguenin ..... Layer Out of the Dead
Marine Trichet ..... Luisa
Raymonde Chabrun ..... Grocer

Synopsis:

Mouchette is one of Robert Bresson's greatest cinematic achievements, plumbing immense emotional depths in one of the most searing, heartbreaking portraits of human frailty ever committed to celluloid. Hemmed in by a dying mother, an alcoholic father and a baby brother in need of care, the adolescent Mouchette searches for sanctuary in nature and domestic chores. As the delicate intricacies of her life are played out a touching, tender and tragic portrait is painted, making her of one of cinema's most memorable tragic heroines. An essential piece of classic French filmmaking.

Robert Bresson directed this grim but moving story of a girl forced to grow up quickly due to the unfortunate circumstances which surround her. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) is a fourteen year old girl living in a rural village in France; while it's the mid-1960's, in many respects her community looks as if it could still be World War II, or even the turn of the century, and a number of the men earn their living though poaching game. Mouchette's mother (Marie Cardinal) is slowly dying of an incurable illness, while her father (Paul Hebert) is a heavy drinker who shows little concern for his daughter, often using a hard shove as a parenting technique. Mouchette is an outcast at school, works odd jobs to help her family's meager circumstances, and has developed a thinly veiled contempt for most of those around her. One of the few places Mouchette feels at home is in the woods, and when a heavy storm breaks out while she's making her way home from school, she happens upon Arsene (Jean-Claude Guilbert), a poacher who allows her to stay in his cabin for the night; he forces himself upon her sexually, but after her initial resistance Mouchette seems to almost welcome his attention. When Mouchette is made party to an act of violence between Arsene and a rival gamekeeper, she's forced into a complicated lie, and after the death of her mother, her shabby existence becomes almost too much to bear. Based on a novel by Georges Bernanos, Mouchette was (like many of Robert Bresson's films) largely cast with non-professional actors, and shot using a deliberately simple, ascetic style; the result was honored with major awards at the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival, and was named Best Film of 1967 (along with Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour) by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics.

Mouchette is a young teenager living in the tough country. Her mother is going to die, and her father does not take care of her. Mouchette does not manage to express her rebellion against the humiliations she undergoes. One night, in the wood, she meets Arsene. Arsene is the poacher of the village. He thinks he has just killed Mathieu, the rural policeman. He tries to use Mouchette to build an alibi.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 10 May, 2019.