Mouchette
Studio: Criterion
WorkNameSort: Mouchette
I’ll never forget my first time seeing Mouchette, during my sophomore year of college. Impulsively checking out a crummy VHS transfer from the UCF library ‘ the film’s director, Robert Bresson, was cited as a major influence on my favorite filmmaker at the time, Hal Hartley ‘ I had one of those life-changing epiphanies you only hear about other people having with movies. To this day, this devastating portrait of an ostracized young girl’s bleak emancipation from the society of predators that surrounds her remains one of the most exciting and continually rewarding films I’ve ever seen, and it receives a predictably superb treatment from Criterion. This disc is worth a look for the supplements alone. Au Hasard Bresson is a 30-minute documentary featuring rare footage of the master at work on Mouchette, revealing a level of spontaneity to his notoriously exacting style. The short ‘Travelling,â?� from the French TV magazine Cinema, includes candid and curt remarks from the nonprofessional actors with whom Bresson worked, and a commentary track and poetic essay dig deeper into this profound cinematic experience.
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2007.