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Mouchette

Mouchette

1967
Drama
1h 21m
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... (imdb)
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Mouchette

1967
Drama
1h 21m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 70.6% from 908 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(908)
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Rated 14 Aug 2007
75
50th
There's something vaguely unnerving about Bresson's minimalistic style. There's very little dialogue, the characters act like robots, and his approach to the story is marked by such austerity and detachment that the end result is at times almost surreal. Contrary to what is often said about Bresson's fairness to the audience, I think Mouchette is somewhat manipulative in the way it piles on the misery and suffering for its protagonist, but the movie is good enough for me to forgive that.
Rated 07 Dec 2015
75
58th
I thought this was the French version of Machete. Boy was I wrong.
Rated 13 May 2012
55
39th
I have trouble connecting with many of Bresson's films. Although I often feel like I don't really get what he's going for, I continue to explore his filmography, drawn back to it by his unique style. Content-wise, I found this one sort of dull.
Rated 27 Apr 2008
90
91st
Bresson is attentive and almost as immobile as the sorrow itself, in his depiction of (indefinable, but intelligible) human grief.
Rated 04 Apr 2010
75
83rd
Bresson is one of the masters when it comes to highlighting the horrors of the mundane, joyless, unobserved life.
Rated 22 May 2011
59
61st
Least favorite Bresson film so far; simply far too one-note and dull. Look to Balthazar instead, which says the same things but with much more subtlety and depth.
Rated 30 Mar 2012
0
5th
More like Mou-shit.
Rated 22 Jan 2009
0
4th
What? I can't believe how painfully dull this was. Even at a blissfully short 78 minutes I can't remember ever being so bored during a film. It never gave me any reason to care. And why was every single sound effect on the soundtrack so awfully loud and noisy? I honestly don't see a single redeeming feature in this film. What is so impressive here? It's average film making, with a dull story. A story which I've pretty much seen done better several other times.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
100
97th
Bresson's stark technique magnifies his lead's anguish and in stripping cinema of it's power of maniupulation, Mouchette exposes the cruel, taboo core of a patriachal society.
Rated 22 Jan 2022
71
69th
I sort of actively dislike it, while begrudgingly lapping up the bewitching montage
Rated 19 Mar 2007
85
81st
Heartbreakingly depressing yet completely enthralling. Bresson's style fits the film's subject matter incredibly well.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
87
79th
# 260
Rated 26 Jan 2015
93
95th
Some scenes lead me to believe that they can only have been conceived via real life experience
Rated 26 Oct 2010
93
94th
A testament to Bresson's mastery of silence. He shoots in whispers and draws the viewer in close to the bleak title character, walled in as she is by a host of Gazes. Watch it, just not while you're in a bad mood.
Rated 13 May 2012
88
97th
Direction masterclass.
Rated 20 Jul 2014
7
92nd
another great bresson, with this being his most emotionally involving and his most depressing (that i've seen).
Rated 13 May 2007
63
60th
Pretty decent. Bresson's method of underacting is particularly apparent here, and creates a very interesting effect against the backdrop of a bleak script. Bernanos is not a great writer - Diary of a Country Priest was kind of banter - but here he's more restrained and focused.
Rated 20 Feb 2008
100
98th
Bresson is a master, and this is the film I regard as his most perfect. I love the way he makes his characters seem dead-pan and worn out (by actually wearing them out, doing hundreds of takes) and at the same time causing the audience to invest in them.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
84
95th
The greatness of this film really comes down to the ending.
Rated 30 Nov 2011
86
72nd
#285
Rated 19 Dec 2008
87
74th
269
Rated 21 Aug 2008
60
55th
Short and really depressing. Much like Mouchette's life.
Rated 21 May 2013
75
56th
Very good, creating a palpable feeling of desperation, but I find myself having a lot of trouble connecting with Bresson's films as much as I'd like to. Hopefully one day I shall...
Rated 14 Aug 2013
58
13th
I was expecting a female version of The 400 Blows (yet even more bleak and depressing), but this film keeps deviating from its central character with a bunch of uninteresting sub-plots and characters. It has its moments though, like the rather visual ending (though what was up with that time-ramping?)
Rated 29 Apr 2011
6
81st
I greatly enjoy Bresson's minimalist approach and it works especially well here. The sparsity of the text helps keep our focus on the mood and atmosphere. That mood is, of course, relentlessly downbeat. That's to be expected from Bresson, but unlike with his other features, here it come across as somewhat forced and unnatural. It's still a damn fine movie with a very sympathetic lead.
Rated 22 Oct 2007
98
98th
Using little dialogue and relying heavily on his typically elliptical editing and intrusive sound, Bresson creates yet another stunning portrait of a life in turmoil. The tragedy of her life is heavy, yet in Mouchette we cannot escape the reality of grace: the ending music, along with a couple of brief glimmers during the film, complicate the tragedy in a productive, and even hopeful, fashion. When nothing good is left in her life, mercy still finds Mouchette.
Rated 21 Jul 2014
83
75th
More and more I'm beginning to like Robert Bresson. Mouchette, like most of his films, is hard to grasp because it's a human story told very coldly and methodically with stiff performances and simplified storytelling, but it's worth engaging on its own terms. It's a shade darker and more intense than a lot of Bresson's work, and the plot and characters are more complex, in many ways making it a more compelling watch. It's probably as dreary and heartbreaking as anything else, as well.
Rated 19 Aug 2011
100
97th
Bit of a downer!
Rated 31 Aug 2015
36
46th
[dodges rotting tomatoes].
Rated 14 Oct 2012
85
83rd
An emotional sledgehammer. The use of fake tears and the ending scene seem however a little over the top.
Rated 02 Jan 2015
50
0th
Robert Bresson #2
Rated 13 Jan 2010
86
72nd
272
Rated 03 Dec 2014
65
47th
bresson uses the ellipse so much that he subordinates the actual plot to meaninglessness, this movie didn't appeal me unlike his earlier works.
Rated 26 Mar 2013
65
35th
no more bresson for me. simply does nothing for me. his supposed genious is beyond me.
Rated 12 Feb 2012
4
70th
The darkest Bresson I've seen, which says plenty. Few characters lead lives of such destitution and misery as Mouchette does, and yet her stoic demeanor scarcely betrays her suffering, with only the tears that run down her unblinking face as evidence. (Plus the occasional mild act of defiance, rare by Bresson standards.) Bresson's nighttime photography in the woods is really incredible.
Rated 07 Jun 2015
77
83rd
There was an attempt to touch, maybe there was even an act of touching, but the thing being and intended to be touched, was not the right one. The question whether the one who touched realized his mistake stands.
Rated 07 Feb 2007
90
94th
There's still a couple of Bressons I haven't seen yet, but this one is definitely the darkest so far. Even darker than Une Femme Douce, with which it shares certain themes (also Balthazar, and I got kind of a 400 Blows vibe from it as well). The common Bresson elements are all here: under-acting, attention to physicality, careful framing. I liked it, but it was mighty depressing. Like L'Argent, I think it will grow on me more if I watch it again.
Rated 09 Aug 2017
78
89th
Mouchette is a fine film whose main problem is that it explores similar themes to the superior Au Hasard Balthazar, which somewhat diminishes its impact. Bresson's superb frame control and fluid editing ensures that it's always interesting, but there is a sense that he might be over-egging the pudding by stacking the deck too extremely against poor Mouchette. Nortier is extraordinary in the main role, arguably Bresson's greatest model. Her 'angelic' anguish is truly haunting and unforgettable.
Rated 13 Sep 2017
4
74th
Poor Mouchette, deprived of childhood, womanhood, personhood. Solitude and obligation are her only frames of reference, and each time she glimpses a light at the end of the tunnel, it is snuffed out with unwavering cruelty. What a sad and beautiful film.
Rated 10 Jul 2018
60
51st
I like Bresson in general, but here, the acting is just too stiff and robotic. I understand that the movie is a lot about the incommunicability of one's overwhelming oppression and pain, but still. Surprisingly enough for Bresson, I felt even the direction was flawed at times. It's like he tried to take inspiration from the Nouvelle Vague but did it awkwardly.
Rated 03 Sep 2018
96
98th
In the words of Akerman: "I don't belong anywhere."
Rated 03 Jan 2019
84
82nd
toplumsal ikiyüzlülük böyle de anlatılır.
Rated 14 Mar 2019
83
18th
82.50
Rated 02 Jun 2019
79
73rd
She must have been de-hy-drated
Rated 13 Jul 2022
60
35th
I'm just going to have to throw up my hands and say Bresson is not for me (although I liked Pickpocket and A Man Escaped). This must be his most emotional movie, but the standoffishness seems too distracting to me. (That and the extra storylines here that I couldn't make fit with the central premise.)
Rated 04 Sep 2022
92
91st
Mouchette, a Virgem Possuída estreava há 55 anos no Festival de Veneza. Mais um momento de Bresson comungando com Bernanos, ou seja, não dá para não ver uma alegoria cristã aqui, o que torna as mulheres em geral mártires do patriarcado, o que não é uma visão muito bem vinda para uma alma revolucionária, mas que também não pode negar sua potência artística. Box Versátil A Arte de Robert Bresson.
Rated 15 Oct 2022
75
56th
A bleak, depressing drama with a surprisingly great performance by the non professional Nadine Nortier, in her only career role. I always have somewhat mixed feelings about Bresson. His style often causes me to like his movies and admire their competence, but not emotionally connect in the kind of way that makes me love them. This one is no exception. It's a very good film, but the sterility kept me from connecting as much as I would expect to a story like this.
Rated 05 Nov 2022
30
10th
ok i give up bresson is just not for me.
Rated 15 Jan 2023
81
90th
So beautifully sad.
Rated 28 Jan 2023
78
46th
Not one of my favourite Bressons, but still a stark and effective look at human suffering. Mouchette’s impotent little rebellions are so sad.
Rated 28 Jan 2023
91
94th
audiovisual 90 acting 95 overall feeling 88 avg 91

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