Mouchette (1966)

"An uncompromising psychological drama...  Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
"...as pure as any film to come out of the 60's.  Gabe Leibowitz, Flipside Movie Emporium

Editor's Note Based on the novel by George Bernanos, Robert Bresson's MOUCHETTE tells the tragic story of a young girl whose existence is so empty that death seems preferable to her life. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) lives in an isolated rural village with her alcoholic father and sick mother, where she is forced to do all the housework and take care of her infant brother. At school, the situation is just as horrendous, since Mouchette is mocked and ignored by her fellow students as well as her teacher. One night, after becoming lost in the woods during a rainstorm, she is discovered by Mr. Arsene (Jean-Claude Guilbert), an alcoholic, epileptic game poacher. Confused as to whether or not he has just murdered a man, Arsene convinces Mouchette to stay with him, giving him an alibi for the night. But when she tries to leave, he throws her to the floor and rapes her. As tragedies continue to pile up, she decides to take her life into her own hands. Bresson's spare dialogue and visual style, coupled with the naturalistic performances of his nonprofessional cast, make MOUCHETTE a subtle tour-de-force of the highest order.

	Jean-Claude Guilbert
	Maria Cardinal
	Nadine Nortier
	Paul Hebert
	Anatole Dauman - Producer
	Georges Bernanos - Writer
	Ghislain Cloquet - Cinematographer
	Jean Wiener - Original Music By
	Raymond Lamy - Editor
	Robert Bresson - Director
	Robert Bresson - Writer

Total Film
"...A perfect introduction to Bresson's utterly distinctive cinematic universe..." -- 4 out of 5 stars 10/01/1999 p.97

Premiere
"[A] remarkably direct and concise picture....Nadine Nortier is unforgettable in the title role..." 03/01/2007 p.94

Film Comment
"[T]he darkly sublime MOUCHETTE is a partially heretical and a deeply moving work of art. Rigorously unsentimental, but not at all ruthless, it is a film of unsparing empathy." 03/01/2007 p.77

DVD Times 8 of 10
...Robert Bresson is regarded by many directors as one of the finest but also a true outsider in the history of French cinema. His heartfelt and sincere Christian faith made him anachronistic for an intellectual scene lapping up the bleak Existentialism of the Rive Gauche or the moral relativism of the 1960s but, beyond this, his rigorous rejection of traditional film made him a pioneer of a new and unique type of filmmaking...Newcomers to Bresson will probably find this effort incredibly dry and almost nonsensical. It is a break from traditional filmmaking as plotting was not really something Bresson worried much with and the viewer is made to almost become a psychoanalyst, judge and jury, trying to discern what each character is feeling, where they are coming from and what makes them behave in a certain way. - Mark Boydell