- France
- 1967
- 78 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.66:1
- French
SYNOPSIS: Robert Bresson plumbs great reservoirs of feeling with Mouchette, one of the most searing portraits of human desperation ever put on film. Faced with a dying mother, an absent, alcoholic father, and a baby brother in need of care, the teenage Mouchette seeks solace in nature and daily routine, a respite from her economic and pubescent turmoil. An essential work of French filmmaking, Bresson’s hugely empathetic drama elevates its trapped protagonist into one of the cinema’s great tragic figures.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Mouchette | Nadine Nortier |
| Arsène | Jean-Claude Guilbert |
| Mother | Marie Cardinal |
| Father | Paul Hebert |
| Mathieu | Jean Vimenet |
Credits
| Director | Robert Bresson |
| Based on the novel by | Georges Bernanos |
| Screenplay | Robert Bresson |
| Producer | Anatole Dauman |
| Cinematography | Ghislain Cloquet |
| Editing | Raymond Lamy |
| Set designer | Pierre Guffroy |
| Original music by | Jean Wiener |
| “Magnificat” by | Claudio Monteverdi |
| Conductor | R.P. Émile Martin |
| Costume designer | Odette Le Barbenchon |
Disc Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary by renowned film scholar, critic, and festival programmer Tony Rayns
- Au hasard Bresson, a half-hour documentary about the director, including behind-the-scenes footage of Robert Bresson directing Mouchette
- “Traveling,” a segment from the cine-magazine TV series Cinéma, featuring on-set interviews with Bresson and actors Nadine Nortier and Jean-Claude Guilbert
- Original theatrical trailer, cut by Jean-Luc Godard
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Plus: A new essay by writer Robert Polito
