LA MOUSTACHE is a very well acted and conceived Belgian film that starts with a terrific premise that could be the opening for either a comedy or a drama and ends up wondering which path to take. Writer/director Emmanuel Carrère (with co-script writer Jérôme Beaujour) takes us on a mind trip that becomes increasingly disorienting and frustrating as the film progresses. It challenges the audience to think but then there is no payoff for the effort.
Marc (Vincent Lindon) is a handsome middle aged man married to Agnès (Emmanuelle Devos) for fifteen years and one morning, in what in retrospect is in response to a bit of relationship ennui, decides to shave off his mustache which has always been present since his marriage began. The surprise to Marc is that Agnès doesn't even notice. At work Marc quietly shows up and no one notices, not even his close associate Bruno (Hippolyte Girardot). Marc is at first perplexed, then he confronts his wife and fellow workers with the fact that he just shaved off his mustache and no one believes that he ever had one! Marc begins to search for photos showing his previous face and gradually the photos disappear and his wife denies ever seeing them, ever traveling to Bali where the photos were taken, etc. People begin to wonder about Marc's sanity and his wife suggests he seek psychiatric care. It is at this point that Marc enters a fugue state and ultimately disappears to Hong Kong on a never ending quest for discovering the truth about who he really is, whether he actually exists, whether he is the pawn in a cosmic game....it just gets more ludicrous.
Both Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos are superb in this peculiar roles and the film has solid production values. Perhaps it is the director's point to leave the audience in a confused state, one that calls forth the existential questions, but as a film it merely peters out, leaving the viewer a bit frustrated by the lack of substance. Grady Harp
Marc (Vincent Lindon) is a handsome middle aged man married to Agnès (Emmanuelle Devos) for fifteen years and one morning, in what in retrospect is in response to a bit of relationship ennui, decides to shave off his mustache which has always been present since his marriage began. The surprise to Marc is that Agnès doesn't even notice. At work Marc quietly shows up and no one notices, not even his close associate Bruno (Hippolyte Girardot). Marc is at first perplexed, then he confronts his wife and fellow workers with the fact that he just shaved off his mustache and no one believes that he ever had one! Marc begins to search for photos showing his previous face and gradually the photos disappear and his wife denies ever seeing them, ever traveling to Bali where the photos were taken, etc. People begin to wonder about Marc's sanity and his wife suggests he seek psychiatric care. It is at this point that Marc enters a fugue state and ultimately disappears to Hong Kong on a never ending quest for discovering the truth about who he really is, whether he actually exists, whether he is the pawn in a cosmic game....it just gets more ludicrous.
Both Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos are superb in this peculiar roles and the film has solid production values. Perhaps it is the director's point to leave the audience in a confused state, one that calls forth the existential questions, but as a film it merely peters out, leaving the viewer a bit frustrated by the lack of substance. Grady Harp