Review of Mouchette (1967) by Magnus H — 30 Mar 2008

Leave it to Bresson to take one of the most unrelentingly sad stories you've ever heard of and make it beautiful simply through his knowledge of people. It's not a big stretch to say that nearly nothing bad happens to Nadine Nortier in this film.

As a result, her character only responds to abuse and rejects any kind of kindness offered her. You'd think that, as a result, Mouchette would come off as annoying or unsympathetic or something along those lines.

Werner Herzog once said that we're all dreamers, and the distinguishing factor for artists is that an artist can articulate her or his dreams. Well, Bresson can articulate humanity better than you can judge, and I'd like to see you try to make the same arguments against Mouchette as a character that some have made against someone as utterly sympathetic as Nabokov's Lolita.

This talent stretches across the board with each character capable of the most vile behavior but yet maintaining utterly human. Something in Bresson's camera translates this as well because in addition to the characters and acting, the way in which the film is shot inexplicably offers a degree of realistic drama.

Take, for instance, a complex scene in which Mouchette finds herself in a shack with a poacher who may or may not have just murdered a game warden. The finale of the scene, which has a swift yet expected and appropriate shift of emotion, is told simply with Mouchette's hands, which is all we need.

The same can be said for any number of scenes that articulate more and more character. A simple scene involving bumper cars totally gets across Mouchette's psychological baggage (and is quite an invigorating scene in and of itself).

The kindly response to a family member's demise and Mouchette's emotional isolation leads to a devastating ending, but one that's beautiful in its simple grasp of what makes people humans, both Christian and sadistic, as Godard's trailer suggests.

***** out've *****.