One of the worst films that I have ever seen by an ‘important’ filmmaker, Mouchette seems to be daring me to hate it more than I should. Horrible acting, editing, effects work, and direction across the board, there is only one scene that is worth anything in this graciously short (81 min.) exploration of misanthropy.
The scene takes place at a carnival in which Mouchette is playing in the bumper cars. She and everyone else ram each other, aimlessly steering their vehicles backwards and forwards, and she makes contact with a boy’s car, and the two exchange flirtatious glances and then continue to circle each other around the rink taking turns bumping each other’s cars. Sometimes, the bumping gets quite violent and I am surprised that the actors didn’t suffer from whiplash. The harder they start to ram each of their cars together, though, the more flirtatious Mouchette and this boy become. I always thought that bumper cars were a great tool for seducing someone. I remember that I would always target only my best friends, or would usually go most after the person I had the hots for. When Mouchette and the boy get out of the bumper cars, they become very bashful toward one another, and can barely muster enough courage to approach the other. This reminds me of the peacocks that live on my street that I grew up on in Houston, who will run away from a human who walks toward them on foot, but will walk right up to someone who is sticking his head and arms out of a moving, giant automobile. Or how pedestrians in a city will flick off rude drivers but never do anything if an offensive person is standing right in front of them.
I love A Man Escaped, but after this and Au Hasard, Balthazar, I am starting to question if Bresson is for me. Like I mentioned in the paragraph I posted after I watched Au Hasard, Balthazar, I do not understand the theory that Bresson is making spiritual films. He made a film that shows a girl (who cannot even be considered a saint, she is kind of a brat) tormented for no reason by sane adults in the community, while her mother is dying and her father drunkenly stumbles around. There is never any reason for anyone to treat her this way, I am just supposed to accept that life is tough for some people; they draw the short straw, and are treated cruelly for no reason at all. No wonder Mouchette drowned herself (the looping water also makes for one of the worst editing distractions that I’ve ever seen in the final shot of a film).