Mademoiselle (1966 film)

Mademoiselle
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Richardson
Written by	Marguerite Duras Jean Genet
Produced by	Oscar Lewenstein
Starring	Jeanne Moreau Ettore Manni Keith Skinner
Cinematography	David Watkin
Edited by	Antony Gibbs Sophie Coussein
Music by	Antoine Duhamel
Production companies	Woodfall Film Productions Procinex
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	12 May 1966 (1966-05-12) (Cannes) 3 June 1966 (1966-06-03) (France) 12 January 1967 (1967-01-12) (UK)[1]
Running time	105 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom France
Languages	French Italian
Box office	$575,000[2]

Mademoiselle is a 1966 psychological thriller film directed by Tony Richardson. Jeanne Moreau plays the title character, a seemingly-respectable schoolteacher in a small French village, who is actually an undetected sociopath.^[3]

A British and French co-production, the film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically in France on 3 June 1966. It won a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design (for Jocelyn Rickards).^[4]

In a small French farming village, visiting Italian logger Manou and his son Bruno sleep in a barn. Manou's sexual dalliances with the local women arouse the hatred and envy of the male villagers, and the jealous villagers blame him for a spate of recent fires and a flood. However, he is innocent; the culprit is the local school teacher, "Mademoiselle", a recent arrival admired by all, but sexually repressed and obsessed with Manou. In a flashback, she sets the first fire accidentally and enjoys watching a shirtless Manou perform heroics.

Regarded by the villagers as someone of impeccable character and good breeding, in her apartment, behind closed doors, Mademoiselle has city footwear and clothing, and she puts on sexier attire for the occasions when she deliberately creates mayhem in the village. The fires and flood are no accident and express her mad passion for Manou, all in an attempt to watch him and to draw his attention to herself.

In the meantime, Manou's son Bruno has witnessed her sociopathic nature in private and in the classroom, where she initially favours him as a pupil but then begins to verbally abuse him and repeatedly humiliates him. He discovers evidence that it is Mademoiselle, not his father, who is responsible for the catastrophes, but as a foreign outsider he stays silent.

After many livestock are poisoned by Mademoiselle, some of the villagers take the law into their own hands and set off to punish Manou. Mademoiselle and Manou have an encounter in the forest, followed by a passionate night of lovemaking, after which she returns to her apartment. The villagers find Manou and hack him to death. Mademoiselle leaves the village with her crimes not revealed, but Bruno knows and spits at her as she leaves.

The original script was written by French writers Jean Genet and Marguerite Duras as a vehicle for actress Anouk Aimée, to be directed by Georges Franju. When Franju dropped out, the script was given by Genet's friend Jeanne Moreau to British director Tony Richardson.

Though Richardson always envisioned Jeanne Moreau as the lead, Jean Genet was opposed to it. Writing for the British Film Institute, critic Alex Ramon wrote that “the actress seems central to the film’s tone and aesthetic in many ways.”^[3]

Richardson originally wanted Marlon Brando for the role of Manou, but scheduling could not be arranged.^[3]

The film was shot on location in and around the tiny village of Le Rat, in the Corrèze département of central France. The entire production team stayed in what accommodation they could find locally for the duration of the shoot.

During filming, Richardson had an affair with Jeanne Moreau, and he divorced his wife Vanessa Redgrave a year after its release.^[3]

The film premiered at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, but lost to the tying The Birds, the Bees and the Italians and A Man and a Woman.^[5] It was released in France by United Artists on 3 June, and in the United Kingdom on 12 January of the following year.

The film was released on VHS and DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in the United States in 1994 and 2002 respectively.

The film received mixed reviews from critics.^[3] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticised the film as "murky, disjointed and unbearably tedious," while praising Moreau's performance and the visuals. He called Genet's script "like something out of Evergreen Review by way of French pornography."^[6]

Writing for the British Film Institute, Alex Ramon called it "a unique work in Richardson’s canon, made at the time of several ambitious, much-panned projects, this oneiric evocation of destruction and desire feels fresh."^[3]

Director Richard Lester praised David Watkin's cinematography, calling it "the most beautiful black and white film I have ever, ever seen."^[3]

• Mademoiselle at IMDb
• Mademoiselle at AllMovie
• Mademoiselle, The Belle From Hell (TCM's Movie Morlocks)