Mademoiselle
Directed by Tony Richardson
Written by Marguerite Duras; story by Jean Genet
1966/UK/France
Procinex/Woodfall Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] The serial arsonist is the most difficult to apprehend because the evidence is burned up. Joseph Wambaugh [/box]
Despite Jeanne Moreau’s great performance, this was ultimately just a downer as far as I was concerned.
“Mademoiselle”( Moreau) is the highly respectable and very evil school teacher in a French village. Practically from the first frame it is clear that she delights in death and destruction and is responsible for a series of fires, a flood and water poisoning afflicting the local farmers. But the townspeople are sure a hunky Italian itinerate logger (Ettore Manni) is responsible. Mademoiselle becomes infatuated with the handsome young womanizer.
This film takes a very dim view of humanity and not in a blackly comic way. It was not for me.
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