Mouchette (1967)
Directed by Robert Bresson

Film Review

Mouchette is arguably Robert Bresson's most pessimistic film, and it is also his most controversial, a bleak and depressing portrait of a young woman's irreversible descent into misery and self-destruction.  The familiar Bresson themes of faith, martyrdom and redemption are present, but these emerge from a much grimmer tale than his other films, and the effect is both moving and profoundly shocking.

Whilst many French films offer an attractive, highly romanticised view of the countryside, in this film life in the country is presented with grim reality, with its mud, rundown hovels, petty rivalries, and unseen, unspoken cruelties.  Modern technology intrudes (the funfair, the tractor, the motorcar), but seems to offer no solution to the miserable lives the poor village folk have to endure.

In this grimly desolate rural setting, a teenage girl goes through the motions of living a life that is entirely worthless.  She has nothing for herself, and allows herself to be the punch bag for all her know her.  Any rare moments of pleasure that the wretched Mouchette mananges to grasp quickly turn into poison, knocking her further down her ever-descending spiral of despair.

Bresson's treatment of the poignant Georges Bernanos novel heightens the tragedy inherent in the story to an almost religious level, transforming Mouchette into a martyr whose only hope of salvation and redemption is the moral sin of suicide.  Mouchette is the human form of the donkey seen in Bresson's earlier film, Au hasard, Balthazar, the quintessential embodiment for the victim in our society, the helpless underdog, trapped in a life of penury and injustice.

Entirely blanched of emotion and sentimentality, the film is painful to watch, unbearably so at times, and yet it is thoroughly compelling.  The final scene, where the spectator has to watch helplessly as Mouchette rolls to her death, tacitly summarises the wretched girl's life as it plays out the only happy ending the teenager could ever achieve.

With a captivating performance from Nadine Nortier (one of the most memorable of Bresson's non-professional actors), this timeless tale of silent suffering and inward rebellion is as relevant today as it was in 1967.  Technology and increased prosperity may have transformed the lives of many, but, in any society, there remain many Mouchettes, unseen victims, beaten into submission by a cruel, unfeeling world.  With that in mind, this film probably has greater social significance than any of Bresson's other films, although it caused a storm of controversy when it was first released in 1967.

Film Synopsis

Mouchette, a 14 year old girl, lives a miserable existence in a rural French village.  Bullied by her father, compelled to look after her dying mother and her baby sibling, she has been robbed of her childhood.  Her only pleasure is small acts of rebellion, such as refusing to sing in school and throwing dirt at her schoolmates.  One evening whilst returning home, she is caught in a storm and runs into a local poacher, Arsène.  She willingly allows him to manipulate her, but with devastating consequences...