My Night at Maud's (1969)
Directed by: Éric
Rohmer
Written by: Éric Rohmer.
Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant (Jean-Louis),
Françoise Fabian (Maud), Marie-Christine Barrault (Françoise), Antoine Vitez (Vidal).
If you
know anything about My Night at Maud’s, Eric Rohmer’s 1969 masterpiece, it’s
that it’s about a man and woman spending a long night together talking about
the sex they both want to have with each other, but are pointedly not having. That
is the basic description of the movie that most give- and so when you watch the
film, it’s kind of strange that it takes a good 30 minutes before the night in
question begins, and the night is over maybe 40 minutes later, leaving a good
45 minutes left in the movie. The title though is still accurate though,
because while the night is only about a third of the film, it hangs over the
rest of the film, right until the final scene, which makes clear everything
that has happened since the main events of the film. It’s a bittersweet ending
to a bittersweet film.
The film
stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis, a French Catholic, who has returned
to France after some time away. He’s in his mid-30s, and early in the film his
eye catches that of Francoise (Marie-Christine Barrault), a younger, blonde
student at Church – and really wants to meet. Her – which, of course, he will
eventually do. He also runs into an old friend – Vidal (Antoine Vitez) – and
the two begin talking. Eventually, Vidal will introduce Jean-Louis to the title
character – Maud (Francoise Fabian) – a woman who is about the same age as
Jean-Louis (perhaps a year or two older), recently divorced, with a child
already. The trio of them will end up at Maud’s apartment – where Vidal will
eventually flee in a huff, after it becomes clear there is a connection between
Jean-Louis and Maud. The two will then have the long talk that some seem to
think the entire film is – a talk about love and sex and religion. The two of
them don’t agree on much – but they push and pull each other in interesting
ways – challenge each other.
That
scene really is one of the best extended sequences in movie history. It is a
masterpiece of writing of directing, or acting – both verbal and physical.
Rohmer lets his camera run on and on, making the actors have to act in a kind
of choreography. Their body language is very subtle – and actors read each
other body language, and react accordingly. There is a subtle push and pull
here – sometimes she seems to be drawing him closer – she spends most of the
time on her bed and other times, she subtly pushes him back. The same is true
of him as well. The film allows both of these people to have their ideas, and
allows them to express those ideas to each other, in ways that at times
contradict themselves, and certainly puts them at odds with each other.
And then,
of course, the night ends. This connection the two of them share lasts into the
next day, the next couple of days, but not much longer. She is going to be
leaving town soon, and may not be coming back. He actually meets Francoise, and
the two of them develop a connection as well. Yet, it’s impossible to not watch
the first night Jean-Louis and Francoise together and compare and contrast it
with the long night he spends with Maud. The two talk and flirt a little, but
they also retreat to their own rooms fairly early. They have a connection – and
its built on something shared though – their Catholicism – and perhaps their
shame at their own sexual past. It’s a more comfortable connection, less
challenging for Jean-Louis, where he gets to the be the older, wiser one – the
comforting one, who gets to “forgive” her for her transgressions. And soon,
while he never forgets Maud, he lets her drift away.
My Night
at Maud’s may well be the apex of Rohmer’s films in this vein. Again, as
mentioned in my other reviews of the earlier films in the series, Rohmer
described them as boy meets girl, spends most of the movie with another girl,
and then returns to the first girl again. It’s also clear that the girl the man
eventually settles with is young, less challenging, usually blonde, where the
girl he chooses to leave behind is darker, more challenging, more intelligent –
perhaps more difficult. The connection may be more intense, but more intense
may not be what they want.
The final
scene in the movie flashes forward five years, and brings everyone together
once again to let you see where everyone is, and how deep those connections go.
It’s a bittersweet ending – it gives us more information about Francoise – but
basically because we see the roads not taken. It’s not that Jean-Louis isn’t
happy in the end – but he has certainly settled into a safer, more contented
life. And he’ll never know what might have been. You get the sense that years
from now, he’ll still remember that night at Maud’s.
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