Emmanuel Mouret

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swo17
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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#51 Post by swo17 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:53 pm

If you start a Mouret/Deville label, I'll buy every release

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#52 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 21, 2020 2:15 pm

Apologies if this was posted in another thread, but Emmanuel Mouret started shooting his next feature back in October of last year, titled Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait ("The Things We Say, The Things We Do"). The plot is vague enough to leave room for Mouret's usual narrative creativity, and will hopefully have enough vibrancy and humor not to become another Une autre vie:
Cineuropa wrote: The story centres around Daphné who, three months pregnant and on holiday in the countryside, finds herself alone playing host to Maxime, a cousin of her partner’s. The latter, François, has had to rush back to Paris to fill in for a hospitalised colleague. Over the course of four days, as they await François’ return, Daphné and Maxime slowly get to know one another, sharing very personal stories which bring them closer together; stories of love, both happy and sad...

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domino harvey
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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#53 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 21, 2020 2:20 pm

Sounds great, and nice cast

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#54 Post by domino harvey » Sat May 30, 2020 2:00 pm

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Tout le monde a raison (2017)

How good is Mouret? He can toss off a zero budget short like this and make it his greatest film. This movie is perfect from start to finish, a clearly conceived short story put to film. I think if you do a board search, you will find I have probably rarely if ever described a film as perfect, but that's because such hyperbole (even for me) is saved for something like this. A woman tells her boyfriend that she has a sixth sense about men and can always tell when they're cheating on her-- not because of the cheating but because of the lying. The boyfriend decides to test her theory by spraying himself with the perfume of an attractive co-worker. As you can imagine from a Mouret film, a character taking it upon themselves to disrupt or test another character with external machinations will not turn out well for anyone involved. But this film has a kind of clockwork inevitability to it where the beats hit are not so much a surprise as a precise note hit at just the right pitch and tonal clarity. This would make for a great extra on a Criterion release of Mademoiselle de Joncquières as they are both about tests posed out of misguided but not malicious intentions (well, initially for Mlle, at least!), but here there is a real and clear brilliance to the efficiency of Mouret's script, direction, and cast. Especially in contentious, negative times like these, we need a genius like Mouret more than ever to give us something as simple and beautiful as this.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#55 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat May 30, 2020 5:27 pm

Tout le monde a raison

As someone who believes in, and has questionably experienced, a kind of energetic “sixth sense" related to this exact subject, Mouret grabbed my attention immediately. While there are people out there who can pick up on social cues, there’s a wonderful possibility for comedy in testing the mystifying gut-reactive space for skeptics (a stance which I often take in life). The short is smart and funny because it’s relatable and Mouret is the reigning expert on finding light-hearted avenues to explore our coping mechanisms in addressing enigmas. The boyfriend's neurotic response to declaring his partner's belief “dangerous” is hilarious because it’s an attempt to make something outside one’s control fit a logical paradigm, and his quest to make uncertainties definitive mirrors atheism in a religious argument just as it reflects the inferiority complex of reduced power in natural blindness to our partner’s actions, strengths, weaknesses, and general abilities. The default to rationality spins into resentment in a way that’s all too familiar to anyone who has existed into adulthood in western societies; and in a genial way validates our natural preference to be comfortable in our worldview rather than take a risk and bear the insecurities that intimate relationships possess.

By proving she’s a fallible human, he shoots himself in the foot, and by keeping with the lie, the interesting direction this turns reveals that he’s actually subconsciously asserting his power rather than trying to playfully prove a point, as he thinks he is doing. As someone who believes (not cynically in the least) that romantic relationships are rooted in playing with power, and often a series of reciprocally, and consensual, shifting power dynamics, this shows how quickly they fail when trust is absent. The small jokes are so stacked in this short that when she begins taking a logical approach, fitting his own schematic position, everything blows up for him ironically when their approach is at its most aligned! The string of “logic” that transpires in the second half is the best slap in the face via poisoning the doctor with his own medicine that had me grinning ear to ear, especially as he doubles down on powerlessness to hit a point of acceptance where he can embrace the magic. It’s actually a beautiful succinct meditation on the process of letting go and expanding peripheral vision to notice the opportunities around us, which can often be possibilities of love blocked by the restrictions of reason. Of course the final punchline reveals another ulterior motive that itself divulges that the magic is something existing outside of specific influence, but aided by the ability to learn through the nature of social conflict. There is a spiritual component to Mouret's work that is probably glossed over too often, where his characters find their perceptive growth in error and happy accidents, suggesting an opportunistic linkage between human beings and cosmic mystique, which is a kind of romance itself.

Mouret continues to impress me with a keen ability to hit deep social themes with an incredibly light touch, like a modern-day Lubitsch. I don’t know if this beats Caprice, but it’s a perfect film and elevates itself by fitting squarely in my own worldview regarding one of my favorite subjects. Plus it's sweet, funny, and the kind of work that prompts reflection on my own past of developments through relationships with lenses of optimism and gratitude, rather than the alternative perspectives or emotions, which is priceless.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#56 Post by swo17 » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:52 am

So Tout le monde is indeed a delight, suspicion can do more damage than cheating, and I love the title's implication about everyone being "right." For what it's worth, I've done my small part to bolster this film by adding it to IMDb, aided in no small part by the film's unique credits

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#57 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jun 07, 2020 2:08 am

Nice, I thought IMDb had mistitled it Aucun regret, but apparently that's an entirely separate Mouret short existing out there to be discovered and subbed.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#58 Post by swo17 » Sun Jun 07, 2020 2:25 am

Yeah, it shares a lot of the same crew but has a totally different cast

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#59 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:00 am

Revisiting Caprice tonight, I was struck by just how complex the interest in morality is- even more than I remembered- because morality is defined as both being true to oneself and to another, yet there is a supremely relativist angle here in exploring multiple facets of the relationship between a moral intervention and intent. Mouret (well all the characters really) are empathic in considering another's perspective, as well as how they could be harmed by an action, but they still maintain a position of validating themselves and engaging in the kind of selfish behavior that doesn't hold a negative connotation. Mouret's Clément is a great example, a man who tries his best to avoid lying and hurting his partner but who also allows himself to be present and swept up into a kind conversation and blossoming relationship with someone he feels an energetic connection to. His 'passivity' is not actually blind negligence but a form of modestly self-actualized warmth- a man who is comfortable being himself, and his compassion and active listening make him an ideal partner in many ways. But the question then becomes- how comfortable is too comfortable to the point of reinforcing an attitude of complacency?

Speaking of being present, Mouret states early on that he struggles to be focused and thinks of his significant life events as future memories. This is critical to how Mouret grows throughout the film, responding to stressors and budding conflicts naturally. One never gets the sense that he is experiencing these moments from a detached philosophical and unemotional space, but rather as a full participant. Much like real life, tension keeps him focused on the here-and-now and helps him embrace an attitude of lucidity. His development lands him in the direction that is an optimal existentialist state: constantly learning, participating and bettering himself through continual social contact. Mouret discovers more about himself through spending time with two different affectionate female personalities, and the anxiety of kinetically bouncing back and forth is the healthy kind of stress that propels his emotional intelligence to strengthen as neurons fire. This runs counter to what the audience must imagine was a less active progression of shrugging off a predicament of powerlessness when his wife left him years ago. There's merit to that method too, and this film is partly about finding that balance between participation and surrender.

The motivation to think ethically and talk out his thoughts and feelings with both women in his life is remarkable and honest, even when hiding one from the other. This morality becomes murky because he's doing the best he can in any given moment but still imperfect, as is the nature of existence in a social world with different perspectives and ideas of morality, and situations that beget inevitable harm in some direction no matter what choices are made. If actively participating in one's life, and trying to do the next right thing, is the bar for morality- rather than the outcomes and perception of harm, that would be a pat on the back, but those other points of view do matter. Intent and action do a dance here, and we land in a space of forgiveness and open-mindedness, where characters can take the other's perspective and work towards empathy. When Caprice states that lying can be the 'most' compassionate act in some circumstances because it spares the partner from a misinterpretation or evidence for harm, we are tuned in to just how relative this morality is; but the key is that the characters are considering the predicaments honestly, rather than being honest superficially- both of which are actions, but one is flexible based on knowledge of the other person, while the alternate option is a rigid rule fixed in solipsism rather than sensibility.

By the end, Mouret has transformed from a man who accepted a kind of powerlessness, at least in his own internalized narrative of his life, to a person who is constantly engaging and making an effort to do right by the people he loves with all the power of his agency, to a medium-temp space that holds both. That's what life is about, and Mouret's optimism in understanding that people tend to be okay if they approach life with this willingness and vulnerability to their actions and other's feelings is beautiful and less of a fantasy than some of us may think. And yet there are layers to awareness, and sometimes - no matter how self-reflective or emotionally cognizant we think we are- we need another human being to tell us that we are missing something, that we are blocking our own feelings from being realised, and those people plant the seeds that allow us to liberate ourselves. Caprice is Mouret's key to unlocking his own vault, the one he didn't even know needed opening.

Her feedback takes us into the 'moral' of the story, which is that morality is defined by this continuous, organic process of change and self-actualization. Caprice initiates Clément's ability to fully trust his partner. "She tells me not to worry so I don't worry" is a beautiful line that summarizes this attitude between letting go with acceptance and faith, and remaining conscious of the present so as to fight the slippage into complacency. Being aware of his own suspicions but not mentioning 'Alicia and Thomas' is a form of love even if not through direct verbal communication or traditionally 'honest' confrontation. These shades of dynamic interventions and weighing morality circumstantially defines active involvement in life. Wondering between a hallucination or a memory for telling Caprice he loved her disintegrates his own parameters for identifying significance, and leaves that emotion there to exist separate from a tangible signifier, in a spiritual space where he is becoming increasingly comfortable on the next step of his journey.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#60 Post by knives » Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:42 pm

Le Cinema Club is hosting Just Walk Naked! next week.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#61 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:21 am

For all you drooling sycophants who read French your pin-up is featured in Positif and Cahiers du Cinéma this month.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#62 Post by Never Cursed » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:03 am

Cahiers still exists? I thought they got Deadspin-ed into the ground

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#63 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:23 am

Never Cursed wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:03 am
Cahiers still exists? I thought they got Deadspin-ed into the ground
Perhaps that's why they're featuring Mouret?

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domino harvey
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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#64 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:35 pm

Is this like your “Americans don’t understand why the French love Jerry Lewis”?

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#65 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:54 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:35 pm
Is this like your “Americans don’t understand why the French love Jerry Lewis”?
Do you mean like 'The French can't understand why Americans like Emmanuel Mouret when there's so much better stuff to be had out there'?

No not really, it was more a genuine attempt at passing on the information with just a slight undertow of cheap provocation.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#66 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:03 pm

Do "Americans" feel especially drawn to Mouret though? I feel like domino triggered a contagious appreciation on this forum (one that is very much earned, mind you) but I'm not confident that all audiences here or elsewhere would parse apart the particular strengths of Mouret's work from other rom-coms simply out of indifference to such contextualizations. At the risk of giving domino a hernia I won't make specific comparisons to Perdrix, but I feel like many French romantic comedies have a light touch that coats a lot of complex mechanics-shifting and philosophical or psychological truths beneath their mild surfaces. With all that said, I do think that his films would kill with audiences here purely on a level of enjoyment, and hopefully thematically with those who are willing to dig, and continue to struggle to understand why they're largely unavailable in the U.S.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#67 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:08 pm

I doubt Americans can be drawn to something they can't even see (except for religion-- Hi-yo!)

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#68 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:08 pm

A few critics weighed in through virtual Cannes reviews on Mouret's latest feature back in June and it sounds promising. I've only scanned the Cineuropa and Indiewire since I don't want the details spoiled, but it sounds like at least these critics get how Mouret takes a formula and adds his own complex maturity to it, and that's all I need to hear to remain excited. It also looks like this is coming out this month in France and next month in Canada, so hopefully Netflix acquires U.S. distribution, which I imagine they would if Lady J did well enough. It already has a U.S.-friendly alternate (or replaced?) title, Love Affair(s), ready for them

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#69 Post by domino harvey » Tue Oct 13, 2020 7:38 pm

Image

Aucun regret (2016)
For a director people seem to love to compare to Rohmer, Mouret's films in fact rarely focus on young people, making Aucun regret something of an anomaly as the first youth-focused Mouret since Venus et Fleur. As you might expect from a film with a young protagonist who has not quite found herself, here we have the typical Mouret character under construction. The set-up is classic Mouret, though: A young art student meets a fellow student and takes a shine to him, only to learn from her friend that he's a player. Is this true or not? As with anything, the only way for a Mouret character to learn, to grow, to succeed, to persevere, is to decide for themselves. Which she does, to predictable consequences. While this follows the path of inevitability just as blatantly as his next short Tout le monde a raison, it's not nearly as successful and lacks that later film's clockwork precision. I enjoyed the unusual for Mouret fourth-wall breaking meta narration, but I don't think it ever connected to the larger themes and should have been embraced more or discarded (and indeed, it, like the film's subjects, hints at some possible unease Mouret may have with this material-- I'd be all for a full Mouret feature set in college qt land, but I'm not convinced Mouret would be!). The film eventually arrives on a quite complicated confession from the protagonist's friend, which unlike the rest of the film surprises us by going in a different direction
SpoilerShow
She apologizes for telling her about the player ways of her friend's paramour-- not because she made it up, as a conventional film would have done, but because she correctly recognizes Mouret's worldview of discovery and growth needing to come from within and regrets that she may have poisoned her friend. Of course, we know that the protag lied and did get hurt, but in the process learned the only way she could regardless-- not because she took her friend's advice or not, but because it didn't matter. Like the waitress telling you the plate is hot and still touching it, some things have to be discovered for ourselves

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#70 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Oct 14, 2020 1:28 am

Despite splitting off a bit in our specific readings of Mouret's work, I had basically the same thoughts as domino for Aucun regret, though I think I liked it a bit more. Mouret has always possessed an eye that recognizes our drives for simplicity and to complicate things as two sides to the same coin, and with the introduction of the social component, we don't have much of a choice but to face both. Mouret seems to view this as a privilege to heighten our development of self, rather than a curse, and this is a great- if a bit on-the-nose -emblem of this idea. I enjoyed the early lines (which basically get repeated again at the end to signal a lesson learned) about where we get inspiration from - “in front of our eyes,” or seeing a solipsistic perspective as definitive oversimplified truth, or “how we live” - making our own meaning from an experience beyond a judgment on a person’s behavior after the fact.

The humor in overthinking rather than fully giving into blind desire, of doubting one’s own singular worthiness by the nature of paranoid comparison to others, is all relatable. Questioning oneself is good, certainty is death, but what about trusting a feeling? Mouret knows that people transcend two-dimensional pathologies, but that despite all the complex psychological processes occurring as we bare our emotions and dance self-consciously, life is full of simple pleasures that exist on the surface, right in front of our eyes, ubiquitously in intimate moments with others and ourselves. And this is where Mouret's film gave me something different to elevate it beyond what could have been an above-average youth pic.. his immense talent at capturing people processing emotions in their contexts, in a light that provides security that these contexts will support them, or that people can support themselves within them.

This is the one area where I disagree and see the meta-fourth-wall domino mentions as relating to the themes quite strongly. The early narration details the physical construction of these spaces and, in the process, the diverse ways they provide avenues to connect people and offer materials to evoke opportunities to explore interests, discover things about oneself, and carry on with structure and choices. The architecture and all its recesses resemble a kind of higher power, something greater than the acute social dilemmas populating our lives with overwhelming force at times.
SpoilerShow
That our heroine acknowledges this power, and the manner in which Mouret frames her against her safe spaces in times where she needs to feel and can't access that mindset, is all we really need to know to trust that she's going to be able to spare herself from a rabbit hole of self-pity, resentment, and general egocentricity, and continue to explore these halls to find infinite possibilities of passion, loss, and the growth in between.

I've reviewed these shots a few times, especially the montage of Aurélie crying in her bed, staring off into the dark, etc. and I can't describe exactly what Mouret does to elicit such a comfortable notion, but I get a very affirming sense that the world is actually a safe place to have experiences that feel unsafe until we trust in our spaces as reliable pillars to console us.
Also, Katia Miran is a knockout in just about every way. I hope we see more of her.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#71 Post by domino harvey » Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:28 pm

Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait is up with subs on back channels!!

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#72 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:50 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:28 pm
Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait is up with subs on back channels!!
Yes!!!! I was waiting for this to make a proper end of year list.

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#73 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:57 pm

It's a 2020 miracle!

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#74 Post by domino harvey » Sat Dec 26, 2020 3:51 pm

Y'all, 2020 strikes again: the rip is cropped from 'Scope to 1.78 and looses image on both sides

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Re: Emmanuel Mouret

#75 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Dec 26, 2020 5:01 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sat Dec 26, 2020 3:51 pm
Y'all, 2020 strikes again: the rip is cropped from 'Scope to 1.78 and looses image on both sides
I sampled it briefly and thought it seemed okay, but when I look closer I see what you mean. Hopefully it's watchable for the duration.

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