mouchette (1967)

robert bresson's final black and white feature, "mouchette" tells the story of the eponymous 12 year old girl of the title, and in particular, her rape and suicide. ninety minutes of joy it may not sound, but "mouchette" is a surprisingly uplifting film.

there are many parallels between "mouchette'' with bresson's earlier film "au hasard balthazar". the plight of the young girl is very similiar to that of balthazar the donkey, with both being the centrepoints of each's respective story. obviously both are heavily put upon by their surroundings. the protagonist doesnt speak until 35 mins into the film. the lack of dialogue suggests more about mouchette's relationship with the world around her than any explanation could. again this is similiar to the silent balthazar, although the fact that mouchette's silence is through choice as opposed to by nature says a lot. the accompanying sound is sparse and diagetic for the most part. this is most effective at the end of the film, wherein the by now familiar sound of mouchette's shoes and the splash of impact upon the pond tell the whole end of the film. its worth pointing out that the incidental music is amazing, something which isnt unusual for a bresson film at all, but the little dialogue and heavily visual look combine to create the hallmarks of a robert bresson film.

one of my favourite examples of the subtlety within bresson's work is during the scene at the fairground. at one point the barmaid from the village pub, embroiled in the midst of a three way love affair, can be seen riding a fairground ride with one of her suitors. within this short scene that contains no dialogue and is actually confined to the limited scenario of a fairground ride the actual truth towards her feelings are revealed by the simple movement of her arm. its a beautiful scenario, and telling of bresson's style completely. add into this the preceeding scene involving mouchette's naive flirtation on the bumper cars and you have a great telling of bresson's spectrum, with the joy and the immediately following heartache.

there is a comparison to be made between the juvenile delinquency on display in ''mouchette'', with that of the actions of antoine doinel in "the 400 blows". the stylistic overtones and political allegory of truffaut's work is much more apparent, but perhaps that is telling of what seperates the work of bresson with that of the french new wave. interestingly, jean-luc godard cut the trailer for "mouchette". the piece he created was perhaps an insight to what might have been, had bresson embraced the movement.

finally, its worth pointing out that "mouchette" contains what is possibly the most distressing scene that bresson ever shot. the pre-title sequence involving the poaching of a bird is genuinely disturbing.