La Moustache (2006)
Ambiguity in a film can be a good thing, especially in a film like this one, where the situation (a man shaves off his mustache and inadvertently turns his entire life inside out) is borne of an absurdist logic Kafka would admire. However, there can come a point where a refusal to explain certain things or have characters take certain actions bespeak to a sort of covering-up on the part of the filmmakers. To put it another way, I think the makers of this film have kept things vague and open because they weren't sure where to take their premise once it had been devised, nor were they sure on how to deal with the obvious logical holes that were inadvertently introduced. Instead of thinking, "Wow, this is kinda creepy," I was more often thinking "Why doesn't Marc just show his co-workers his ID badge?" or "Why doesn't Marc wave the picture from Bali in front of his wife's face?" The performers (including the invaluable Emmanuelle Devos as Marc's wife Agnes) almost sell it, but when a good five minutes of the third act to an existential-crisis thriller is consumed by a guy riding the Hong-Kong-to-Kowloon ferry for a whole day, there had better be a damn good reason for it. There isn't one here, other than casting about and hoping some accidental meaning emerges from it (it's, like, ready-made ennui or something); sorry Vincent Lindon.
Grade: C+
Ambiguity in a film can be a good thing, especially in a film like this one, where the situation (a man shaves off his mustache and inadvertently turns his entire life inside out) is borne of an absurdist logic Kafka would admire. However, there can come a point where a refusal to explain certain things or have characters take certain actions bespeak to a sort of covering-up on the part of the filmmakers. To put it another way, I think the makers of this film have kept things vague and open because they weren't sure where to take their premise once it had been devised, nor were they sure on how to deal with the obvious logical holes that were inadvertently introduced. Instead of thinking, "Wow, this is kinda creepy," I was more often thinking "Why doesn't Marc just show his co-workers his ID badge?" or "Why doesn't Marc wave the picture from Bali in front of his wife's face?" The performers (including the invaluable Emmanuelle Devos as Marc's wife Agnes) almost sell it, but when a good five minutes of the third act to an existential-crisis thriller is consumed by a guy riding the Hong-Kong-to-Kowloon ferry for a whole day, there had better be a damn good reason for it. There isn't one here, other than casting about and hoping some accidental meaning emerges from it (it's, like, ready-made ennui or something); sorry Vincent Lindon.
Grade: C+
1 Comments:
I'm casting about on the internet, desperately hoping to find someone to explain La Moustache to me. It doesn't look like I'm going to get an explanation. I hate these movies that disappear up their own asses. I feel cheated by the filmmakers.
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