Mouton, 2013.
Written and Directed by Giles Deroo and Marianne Pistone.
Starring Michael Mormentyn, David Merabet, Cindy Dumont, Benjamin Cordier, Emmanuel Legrand and Audrey Clement.
SYNOPSIS:
The life of a small French town is rocked by a bizarre incident.
In Mouton, writer/directors Gilles Deroo and Marianne Pistone understand that acts of construction and cleansing can be incredibly cinematic. Lead character Mouton’s (Michael Mormentyn) role as a chef sees him craft numerous intricate platefuls of French delicacy, and one memorable scene involves the character blasting sand off his feet with a shower nozzle. Such acts are symbolically adjacent to a story which begins with an adolescent taken from a mother deemed unfit to care for him, and subsequently sees said teenager rebuild himself as a happy, capable young adult.
Newly independent of his mother, Mouton is taken in by a welcoming group of friends and takes a job and boarding at a French seaside restaurant. Deroo and Pistone neglect exposition (other than in their Godardian use of title cards) and film in a way that shouldn’t even be called documentary style, per se – the performers are appropriately natural for the format, but Deroo and Pistone’s approach goes so far as to even recognise the camera’s presence. The camera gaze is static and unflinchingly observant, while actors at points look into the camera and smile.
What unfolds then is a coming-of-age pic that allows the recognisably mundane to creep in alongside the traditional requisites for the genre: gaining independence for the first time, making new friends, falling in love. This portion of the film is intermittently, surprisingly heartwarming, with Mouton, his new girlfriend and their friends finding enjoyment in company beneath the perma-grey Normandy sky. Then, approximately an hour in, everything changes.
The complicating act that shifts the story is suitably tragic and shocking, but when Mouton disappears from his own film, the picture careers into aimlessness. Shifting focus to what happens to Mouton’s companions when Mouton leaves town, Deroo and Pistone aim at an exploration of the impact of loss, but misfire. Deroo and Pistone don’t take the time to know Mouton’s friends during Mouton’s section of the story, and these characters remain distant in their closing segments, for the simple fact that we can’t relate to those we can’t know.
It’s interesting that Mouton takes this route, and it isn’t that far-fetched to imagine it could’ve worked. It’s just that the grouped vignettes telling the story of what happens to the group following Mouton’s leaving don’t make a convincing enough argument for their own existence. The group’s male ringleader abandons his dog, the mischievous twins sleep with a prostitute, the youngest gang member gets into a bad mood, and overall the film drags. You will miss the character of Mouton for actor Mormentyn’s endearing quality, but Deroo and Pistone’s directionless storytelling following Mouton’s departure is what really makes his absence felt.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published April 9, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
