Customer Reviews

La Moustache

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is an absolutely incredible film. Just wonderful.

I read the book a couple of years ago and recently re-read it. As I looked it up, I found a film had been made-- I didn't know about it-- so I immediately purchased a copy.

If you haven't read the book, you must. And, this time, reading the book first is probably a good choice.

I'm baffled that some seem to think the ending was unclear. I think it was very clear. However, I don't want to include any spoilers here. It's exactly as it seems to be. Exactly. So, if you're confused and looking for a hidden meaning, you won't find one. It's exactly as the main character understands it to be at the very end.

The movie starts out with Marc asking his wife, Agnes, if he should shave his mustache. He does, and she doesn't notice. As a matter of fact, nobody notices. When he confronts his wife and friends, they insist that he has not had a mustache for at least 15 years. Obviously, somebody is either lying or going crazy. He is suspicious of his wife and friends for quite a while, but then begins to believe that they are indeed telling the truth, and he is somewhat removed from reality. Again, however, he starts distrusting his wife, since strangers recognize his mustache in older pictures.

Who is telling the truth? Who is insane? The film begins with us clearly seeing Marc's mustache. We also clearly see the hairs he trims, the hairs he washes away in the tub, and the hairs he washes away in his shaving tray. We watch him complete his entire shaving ritual-- first using shaving scissors, then an old-fashioned razor. We see everything through Marc's eyes. We meet his Serge and his wife. We hear Agnes talk about going to Marc's parents for lunch. What is real and what isn't?

Both Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos do a perfect job here. There isn't constant chatter or dialogue and nuances are delivered through subtle expression. They are both so wonderful-- Lindon in particular.

This movie is not about middle aged angst and it's not about a marriage falling apart nor is it about a man entering a 15 year time warp. It also is not a comedy by any stretch of the imagination-- although, like life, there might be some time you find yourself laughing a bit-- but it's due to the absurdity of the situation and the empathy the characters inspire.

The music is gorgeous and the cinematography beautiful. This is very much recommended.

Note: The ending here is different from the book. The book's ending is a stunner. When I was finished, I just sat there wide-eyed-- not believing what I just finished reading. I re-read the last few pages because it was so unbelievably shocking.

That ending definitely wouldn't have worked here. At the end of the film, I was almost praying I wouldn't have to see what I read in the book. It might have worked visually, but I doubted that it would. Carrere made the right choice here when deciding to change the ending. Again, if you read the book, you wouldn't wonder at all who was right all along or if one of the characters were truly crazy. There is no ambiguity in the book. However, there's no ambiguity here, either. It just hits you with a half a ton of bricks rather than a full ton. And, that's not criticism-- a half ton still knocks you over. Just make sure you realize that the main character understands the truth at the end, and you will understand, too.

The cover of this DVD misleads when it likens its drama to Hitchcock's work. There is actually nothing approaching a Hitchcock level of suspense here. However, the viewer is kept intellectually guessing, ping-ponging back and forth at least through the first part of the film, wondering, "Did the man have a moustache, or didn't he? Is he gaslighting his wife, or is she gaslighting him?"

Like the French language itself, there are so many letters of explanation in this film that don't get pronounced, but that inform the pronunciation of other letters in the words. Director Emmanuel Carrere refers to "ghosts" whose presence is felt, trailing the characters' lives. However again, none of this rises to the level of suspense.

Most of the value of this movie lies in its view of a marriage. This is an adult relationship, different from the kind we see in most American films where one spouse (usually the woman) is shown as mere adjunct to the man's answering call to action. Here both partners are given gravity and tenderness and extension.

Actor Vincent Lindon is especially good at showing a longing bafflement. He doesn't undermine his performance by distancing himself from his character as many Americans might when called upon to play a man who isn't conforming to all gender stereotypes. Here Lindon is unflinching as a man who is not interested in football and who gets lost, almost waif-like, in what might be the complexities of his own imagining.

There's a good director/producer commentary on this DVD, pointing out the ground from which some of the film's mists arise. But this isn't the movie for anyone who demands clear plot or resolution. In fact, the film is almost gratuitously devoid of explanations. But you might feel invited to fill in the tantalizing blanks yourself, to suit your own view.

A man shaves his "moustache" and his his wife -- or are they lovers? -- insists he never had one. And then things get really strange. Is someone messing with his mind? Or vice versa?

Up to the end, I loved this funny (at first) and finally disturbing French film that slyly forces you to shift the paradigm you think you're in.

How fragile our shimmering realities if some little thing fractures our bubble.

How ephemeral our identities that are held together by nothing more than fleeting reflections of self.

If you're fond of French films like Caché and Lemming, this one is a tasty treat up to a point.

But be warned that no matter how glued you might be to the unfolding Hitchcockian twists, the final ending is a HUGE, FRUSTRATING DISAPPOINTMENT. In fact, it made me angry to be so unsatisfied. There's such a thing too much trimming and editing to achieve some kind of minimalist existential French ambiance. The end of a movie should not leave the viewer scratching his head and muttering "Quoi?"

Marc (an unsettling, often whacked-out performance by Vincent Lindon) and his wife Agnes (quietly sane but maybe conniving, maybe not Emmanuelle Devos) are getting ready for an evening out with Agnes' ex-husband Serge (Mathieu Amalric) and his new wife. As a joke Marc shaves off his moustache while bathing and of course, naturally expects Agnes, Serge and the next day his fellow workers and the man at the Espresso stand to notice. But no one does. In fact, Agnes tells him he never had a moustache though Marc finds photos from a trip to Bali with Agnes...moustache squarely on his upper lip. The photos disappear before Marc can show them to Agnes and when he asks her about them, she has no recollection of a trip to Bali. And so it goes.
Director Emmanuel Carrere, who also wrote the screenplay based upon his novel has fashioned an enigmatic though thoroughly fascinating film: What is Really Going On Here? "La Moustache" never really answers that question: nothing is spelled out, made crystal clear. Is it about the complacency that sets in between partners after a few years: a complacency in which they fail to notice any kind of small change in or on each other? Maybe.
Directed and written by men, "La Moustache" has a lot to do with Men's hatred of the drudgery of shaving daily...Marc quits shaving for an extended period of time and never appears happier. It's not surprising that the Men's Fashion Industry pushes the unshaven look as a desirable, virile, macho look: we are all open to anything that saves us from shaving daily.
At times perplexing, confusing, witty yet always intelligent, "La Moustache" never fails to hold your interest...though you will be hard pressed to say what it all means. And maybe that is the point.

I seem to be among an apparently small group of people who did not find the ending a huge disappointment. I don't think I expected for a moment that in the end everything would wrap itself up nicely and all would be revealed. Don't look so hard to find the answers; it is quite simple. Once he had let his beard grow in and his moustache returned, his life and love as he knew it before shaving the moustache returned. As soon as it was gone, reality as he knew it was gone. Once it returned, his reality caught up to him. The ending "twist" as it were, to me, is which reality was waiting when his eyes opened at the very end, after re-shaving. In the beginning she says she would not know him without it. In Hong Kong, she says she'd be curious to see him without it. The question that remains is whether his reality is based on the moustache's existence alone, or his wife's perception of the moustache's existence. Superb acting throughout!

An enigmatic and mysterious film of indeterminable length that seems to lack coherence and continuity. Things happen, but no one knows why. Maybe it's meant to be Hitchcockian, but, if so, it fails miserably. Even now, I'm not quite sure what I saw. Of if I even care.

At the beginning of this movie, we see a man shave his mustache. But when he emerges from the bathroom, his wife doesn't seem to notice. Nor do his co-workers or friends. He never had a mustache, they say. The man starts to go crazy. Parts of his life seem to be disappearing. He's caught in an alternative reality -- a different version of himself. He questions everything. Finally, when he overhears his wife talking about having him committed, he runs away -- to Hong Kong.
For long stretches of this movie, I was quite riveted It seemed to owe something to Kafka. Without anything scary happening, a mood of unease, even menace builds. The idea that the basic building blocks of a person's life can be so easily undermined is disturbing. The movie seemed to have something important to say. But the plot loses its way in the Hong Kong scenes and the end is a way too facile. Ultimately, we get no explanation of how and why -- everything is rather too easily resolved. But for long stretches, this movie is quite original and absorbing.

Unique beauty Emmanuelle Devos led me here (see Read My Lips to understand why), but 'La Moustache' is a hard movie to like despite another winning performance by this beguiling actress. While suspenseful, the movie is ultimately infuriating because like another recent French release, Cache (Hidden), not only is the viewer unable to figure it out, turns out the actors are unclear on the concept as well. Indeed, in the "Making Of" featurette included on the DVD, Ms. Devos literally shrugs her shoulders and admits to giving up on figuring out the movie and simply focusing on her role. Moreover, director Emmanuel Carrère and writer Jérôme Beaujour tell featurette viewers that they reviewed the first cut of the film and realized that they needed to chop out the explanatory scene (hopefully the one that lets on whether it's the wife or the husband that's gone off the deep end). Maddening.

"La Moustache" is a trippy French flick by director Emmanuel Carrere, which he adapted from his novel of the same name. The film opens with Marc, a middle-aged Parisian, bathing and playfully asking his wife whether he should shave off his mustache. They joke that she wouldn't be able to recognize him, as he's had a mustache his entire adult life. Marc goes along with the joke and impulsively shaves; however, instead of being shocked, his wife doesn't notice. He assumes that she's playing a joke, but she apparently isn't. Things become stranger still when his friends and co-workers fail to notice the demise of the titular mustache as well.

Only a French film could sustain this rather silly premise for nearly 90 minutes, although the mustache is merely the trigger for what follows. The film's initial light comedic banter slowly changes to a tense, brooding tone as Marc starts to act erratically - all stemming from the mustache incident. I was amused and intrigued throughout the film, although some viewers undoubtedly will find "La Moustache" boring depending on their tolerance level for semi-pretentious French films. One could interpret the plot in a number of ways. Marc might have gone mad, or the film might be an examination of how two people can never really know each other or about the disparity between how we view ourselves and how others views us. At the end, I had no idea what the film was "about" or what the film "meant," but I was entertained enough not to care.

She: This is either the most boring film of all time - or a work of genius. Your choice. I just saw it and I still have a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. DO NOT SEE THIS FILM IF YOU TEND TO GET SEA-SICK. It's very watery; everything is sea-green, with a little red and orange thrown in to make a bloody point. The visuals are gorgeous, especially Vince Lindon's moss-colored velvet jacket. He: This movie played a game with my perceptions, especially of time. Things definitely weren't what they seemed. I think everything up to the point when he shaved off his moustache (at the end of the film) never happened. What "happens" up to then, is either a dream or merely the director f---in' with our heads.