Adapted from Marguerite Duras’ book of the same
name by Peter Brook, Moderato Cantabile
is an interesting psychological drama about a bored, lonely housewife whose
mundane life takes an unexpected and dramatic swing. Anne (Jeanne Moreau) is
married to the wealthy owner of a large company which employs a significant percentage
of the population of the small wan French town she resides in. Most of her
daily activities revolve around her son; her dull, routine, however, life goes
for a toss when, one day while her son is being given piano lessons at his
stern teacher’s home, she hears a woman screaming. Unable to get the better of
her curiosity, she rushes down to find that a beautiful young lady has been
murdered by her fiancé at the café downstairs – and she ends up getting
morbidly attracted to the crime. This gets her acquainted to Chauvin (Jean-Paul
Belmondo), a young working-class man who frequents that café and has been silently
in love with her. The more her carefully chiseled, conservative life gets
disrupted because of her growing attractions towards him, the more
disillusioned and liberated she starts becoming on account of her growing
existential crisis, much to the dismay of everyone. Moreau gave a wonderfully
restrained turn as the complex protagonist who is, subconsciously, so much at
odds with her existence; Belmondo, too, was noteworthy, even though his character
needed better defining and a more plausible arc. The soft B/W visuals, the fine
minimalist score, and the leisurely pacing, added to the subtle charm of this
melancholic, if largely uneventful and unaffecting film.
Director: Peter Brook
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Existential Drama/Romance
Language: French
Country: France
No comments:
Post a Comment