My Night at Maud’s – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #345 (part of “Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales”) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

December 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith

Smart, witty and fantastic!!! “My Night at Maud’s” is a wonderful film that is even relevant today as people struggle with their religious morals and temptations. As part of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales (available as part of a box set from The Criterion Collection), the film looks fantastic and still strikes a chord 40-years-later. Highly recommended!

TITLE: My Night at Maud’s – The Criterion Collection #345 (part of Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales box set)

DURATION: 111 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Monaural in French with Optional English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio

COMPANY: The Criterion Collection

RELEASED: 2006

Written and Directed by Eric Rohmer

Produced by Pierre Cottrell, Barbet Schroeder

Cinematography by Nestor Almendros

Edited by Cecile Decugis

Production Design by Nicole Rachline

Production Management by Alfred de Graffe

Starring:

Jean-Louis Trintignant as Jean-Louis

Francoise Fabian as Maud

Marie-Christine Barrault as Francoise

Antoine Vitez as Vidal

Leonide Kogan as Concert Violinist

Guy Leger as Blonde friend

Marie Becker as Marie (Maud’s daughter)

In the brilliantly accomplished centerpiece of Rohmer’s “Moral Tales” series, Jean-Louis Trintignant plays Jean-Louis, one of the great conflicted figures of sixties cinema. A pious Catholic engineer in his early thirties, he lives by a strict moral code in order to rationalize his world, drowning himself in mathematics and the philosophy of Pascal. After spotting the delicate, blonde Françoise at Mass, he vows to make her his wife, although when he unwittingly spends the night at the apartment of the bold, brunette divorcée Maud, his rigid ethical standards are challenged. A breakout hit in the United States, My Night at Maud’s was one of the most influential and talked-about films of the decade.

In 1969, the film “My Night at Maud’s” (Ma nuit chez Maud) directed by Eric Rohmer (one of the last French New Wave directors) would receive worldwide recognition and would be nominated for the 42nd Academy Awards for “Best Foreign Language Film” and the 43rd Academy Awards for “Best Original Screenplay”.

The film has been released by The Criterion Collection as part of the DVD box set “Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales”. Six films that would deal with relationships but morality as the characters are shown in remarkable depth as they reflect on themselves, their feelings about religion to other things in life that many people deal with or think about but are not typically featured in films. The characters are at the forefront of Rohmer’s films and for the most part, the people he tends to feature are intelligent, articulate and literary young people, a different perspective of French cinema compared to other director’s covering youth in their films.

“My Night at Maud’s” is the fourth film which focuses on the character of a Catholic engineer named Jean-Louis. An introvert who goes to church but becomes enamored by a blonde woman he sees and really wants to meet. But Jean-Louis is a man who is in deep thought about himself and where he stands on his Catholic religion and discussion of Pascal’s wager and how one is supposed to behave morally.

For Jean-Louis, you can tell that being around people is not his strength. As an introvert, Jean-Louis breaks his trend of staying home as he sees her once again and feels he must try to at least meet her. He goes through town on Christmas night looking for her but misses her once again. He’s seen going through the book store and looking at books that deal with his current state of mind but while going through shop-to-shop, he enters a cafe and runs into an old friend named Vidal (played by Antoine Vitez), a college philosophy professor and a Marxist.

The two get into an interesting conversation as Jean-Louis talks about mathematics, philosophy and discussion about Pascal. Jean-Louis talks about how he’s reading his work and how Pascal’s notion of “Pascal’s Wager” can fit into his life as a Catholic. But Vidal then talks about his friend, a single mother, recent divorcee named Maud (played by Francoise Fabian) that he would like to introduce to Jean-Louis. You get a sense that Vidal likes Maud but at the same time, he’s urging for Jean-Louis to meet with her. Perhaps Vidal’s way of testing Jean-Louis’s religious determination.

So, the two go to Maud’s home where the three have an intelligent conversation about philosophy and religion. Maud is becomes intrigued by Jean-Louis and his religious moral code, while she is more free-spirited and not so religious. She seems fascinated by him. But the night gets even more interesting as a snowstorm hits town. Because Jean-Louis lives to far, Vidal leaves Jean-Louis at Maud’s place for the night. Making things a bit awkward for Jean-Louis but at the same time, giving Maud the opportunity to have some fun.

With the two together, Maud (who is not religious at all) tries to tempt him by sleeping with her (not the act but literally) instead of him sleeping on the chair and hurting his back. The fact that he is dedicated to his Catholic religion (and believes in being faithful to that person you love and also dating one that is Catholic), Maud tries to see if he will continue to adhere to his moral code or will he be tempted by desire. While, Jean-Louis is interested in hearing why Maud is divorced. Needless to say, an interesting but cold night in which Maud seems quite tempting (she says she’s an exhibitionist and loves to sleep nude) and when encouraged to sleep next to her, Jean-Louis decides to lay next to her.

Jean-Louis knows that he is now feeling conflict for his belief in staying grounded with his Catholic principles but at the same time, his sensual desire to try something starts to get into his head. Maud is expecting it but will he be tempted and give in to Maud during the night? Or can he hold on to his Catholic principles. Also, what happens when Jean-Louis finally meets up with the blonde woman that he is very attracted to… Francoise (played by Marie-Christine Barrault). Will Jean-Louis go for the Catholic Francoise or the free-spirited Maude?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“My Night at Maud’s” is presented in 1:33:1 black and white. The picture quality for this 1969 film is incredibly clean. Blacks are nice and deep and the grays and whites really pop. Just the scene alone in which Jean-Louis searches for the blonde woman at the beginning of the film, just shows you how this film looks so incredible. I was definitely pleased that 40-years-later, the film looks great!

According to Criterion, Director Eric Rohmer supervised and approved the high-definition digital transfer, which was created on a Spirit Datacine 35mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.

As for audio, the film is in mono, center channel driven. Criterion mentions that the soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from an optical soundtrack and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle. I preferred to listen to the film with my receiver set on stereo on all channels but dialogue is clear and understandable.

Subtitles are in English and subtitles are nice and clear with a black stroke around the character type.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“My Night at Maud’s” contains the following special features:

A 1974 Episode of the French television program, “Telecinema”, featuring interviews with star Jea-Louis Trintignant, film critic Jean Douchet and producer Pierre Cottrell – (13:38) An episode of “Telicinema” directed by Jacques Brialy and hosted by Olivier Lorsac interviewing film critic Jean Douchet, actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and producer Pierre Cottrell. The three discuss the film and Eric Rohmer’s style. An interesting discussion between the four men.
“On Pascal” (1965) directed by Rohmer for the educational TV series “En Profit dans le texte” - (21:59) An episode from “En profil dans le texte” directed by Eric Rohmer in which author and philosophers Brice Parain and Dominque Dubarle discuss “Pascal’s Wager”, a suggestion published in the 1600′s by French philosopher Blaise Pascal’s “Pensees”. Pascal’s Wager means that although the existence of God can not be proven by reason, a person should wager as though God exists.
Original theatrical trailer – (2:45) The original theatrical trailer for “My Night at Maud’s”.

I absolutely loved “My Night at Maud’s”. As a person who grew up Catholic, I’ve had many of these similar discussions with friends in a similar context to what Jean-Louis, Vidal and Maud are discussing. And I have known people in my life who are like Jean-Louis where there life is driven by their religion and that the choice is up to God and not them. And then the conflict they experience when they are put into this moral dilemma of how to act. Does one act according to their religion or does one live life to one’s experiences and act accordingly?

One thing that caught my interest was Rohmer’s utilization of characters. These characters spend a long time in discussion. Put them in a restaurant or a room and you will have a large chunks of the film featuring characters having intellectual conversations. These characters are young but different from other young characters featured on cinema. These characters go to book stores, they enjoy reading books, they love looking at the books on the shelves of a person’s home. There are these small things that you see onscreen that Eric Rohmer just captures quite beautifully and definitely makes the scene seem so real.

Other examples include a scene, in which the viewer watches like a passenger on the back set of a car of Jean-Louis following the blonde woman throughout town while he drives. We see the beauty of the village and its buildings but like in real life, the camera doesn’t cut away. Along with Jean-Louis, we follow this young woman on her bike in real time. Another detail that caught my attention is when we see how uncomfortable Jean-Louis is around people as his hands look a bit shaky. Showing the viewer of how much of an introvert he truly is. But also how conflicted he is when it comes to his emotions and his religion. And in my experience, I know too many people who have had these thoughts in their head and have struggled with those emotions.

“My Night at Maud’s” is a wonderful film that engages the viewer in various ways and makes them think. Some will enjoy the film and understand the characters and like in my case, just truly love of how well-crafted this film is. While some will feel that the film is filled with too many conversations and not feel any connection to it. But the dialogue is smart, witty and quite relevant now as it was back in 1969.

A fantastic film that is part of a wonderful collection of films for the Criterion Collection’s “Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales”. Highly recommended!