I saw this film this week. It is one of Mr. Bresson's most intensely tragic
works. I noticed for the first time that Mouchette does not actually speak
until over twenty minutes into the film in her encounter with a poacher which
leads ot the tragic denouement. (She does hum, sing, and cry before the scene.)
However, she is such a strong presence that I never noticed this before.
Having seen it so often before, I was able to notice and savor smaller elements.
The Bressonian sound track of natural sounds is always wonderful: for example,
the crackling of the fire in two different buildings in which Mouchette is with
the poacher because Mr. Bresson's style is so spare it is also sensuous. In few
other films would we notice the sound of fire and the sound of traffic. Here
they stand out.

It is not only the artistic vision of Mr. Bresson that grabs me, bu the sheer
craftsmanship of his film-making. These film are too tough to be artsy.

Does anyone know if anyone connected wit the film has writte or spoken of it?
(I already know about the uthor Marie cardinal, wo played Mouchette's mother.)

Shmuel Ben-Gad,
Gelman Library,
George Washington University.

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but
still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled
with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
--Haldir of Lothlorien