Mademoiselle (1966 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mademoiselle is a 1966 French - British film directed by Tony Richardson. This dark drama stars Jeanne Moreau as an undetected sociopath and arsonist, a respected visiting schoolteacher in a French village.
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Plot
In a French village, Manou is an Italian logger, virile, with a broad laugh. He can't say no to women's sexual invitations, and jealous villagers blame him for recent fires and a flood. He is innocent; the culprit is "Mademoiselle," town schoolmarm, a recent arrival admired by all, but sexually repressed and obsessed with Manou. She sets the first fire accidentally and throbs watching a shirtless Manou perform heroics. Subsequent catastrophes are no accident and express her mad passion for him. Also, after befriending Manou's son, she turns on the lad, making him miserable and raising his suspicions. Her designs, Manou's frank innocence, and the town's xenophobia mix explosively.
Overview
As the film begins, Mademoiselle is shown opening floodgates to inundate the village, so there's never a moment in the film that the audience, like the villagers, believe she's a normal upstanding citizen. But understanding her motivation is impossible though the structure of the film; she has no cause for revenge, no personal material gain, no increased standing in the community from her furtive crimes.
At first her evil acts, which lead to deaths, seem catastrophically unfair to the afflicted villagers. She's seen as a a beautiful woman but by her deeds render her a fury or hag out of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? or some similar psychological horror tale.
Cinematography
The noir widescreen black & white photography, & a good deal of night or storm scenes, underscores a mood of evil. And as the village becomes corrupted by their own terror & close in on their own evil act of mistaken vengeance, it begins increasingly to seem like Mademoiselle is an actual embodiment of demonic passions sent by greater powers to visit the punishments of Job on an unsuspecting village. A test they thoroughly fail to pass.
Script
Having a script written by Marguerite Duras based on a story by Jean Genet, Mademoiselle could pass as an arthouse film, a sexual thriller, or subtle horror, it is seen by many critics as a work of art.
