Vox Nova at the Movies: My Night at Maud’s
The third installment of Eric Rohmer’s famed Six Moral Tales series, Ma nuit chez Maud begins when Jean-Louis, a Catholic engineer recently returned from abroad, runs into Vidal, an old school friend turned Marxist philosophy professor. After attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the pair retire to the home of Maud, a beautiful divorcee and sometime paramore of Vidal. The evening begins with a discussion on the merits of Pascal (Catholic Jean-Louis is opposed, Marxist Vidal is in favor). But when a snowstorm leaves Jean-Louis alone and trapped with the enticing Maud, his moral principles are put to the test.
The film is rather talk-centric (which is a feature not a bug as far as I’m concerned, but reasonable minds may differ). Ultimately, though, I found the film to be a rather profound meditation on the nature of temptation, as well as love, and I found the blend of French new wave cinema with religious themes to be quite intriguing. Some might also find appealing the repeated use of “Jansenist” as an epithet. Recommended.
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Are you familiar with the films of Robert Bresson, BA?
I’m afraid I’m not. Is his work similar?
The film is rather talk-centric (which is a feature not a bug as far as I’m concerned, but reasonable minds may differ).
Talk-centric would definitely be a feature rather than a bug…if they spoke in English…
;)
BA – I wouldn’t describe him as part of the New Wave, but his films – Journal d’un curé de campagne ["Diary of a Country Priest"] and Mouchette are among the better ones – are very Catholic, and deal with morality and temptation in complex and interesting ways. He is sometimes called the “Patron Saint of Film”.
I just realized I actually own one of Bresson’s movies, Au hasard Balthazar, though I’ve never watched it (I inherited the film from a friend who died). Tres bizarre.
I’ve not actually seen that one, BA, but I’ve enjoyed all his films
Rohmer is the best guide to what makes France such an adorable country — its conversations, above all.