Quick recap:  A devout Catholic runs into an old friend, who identifies himself as a Marxist. The two decide to visit a recent divorcé (Maude), where they spend a night discussing philosophy.

Fun (?) fact:  Want to host the most boring movie marathon EVER? My Night at Maud’s is the 3rd movie in a series entitled ‘Six Moral Tales’. 

Is philosophy really that exciting? No. No, it is not.

My thoughts: Oh, France. I came into this project with some very stereotypical views about the French: Whimsy? Check.   Corrupting of youth? Check.    Existential art film? Check.  A story in which a penniless writer falls in love with a can can dancer from the Moulin Rouge? Check. And now add to that list a pretentious film, where every single bit of dialogue is stuffed with references to philosophy that some people might get, but I sure didn’t. Fact: If you have to spend more time researching what you just watched in order to understand the basic point, it’s not worth it.

The entire film is based off of the ideas of Pascal, who wagered that since it’s impossible to prove God exists, you might as well believe. If you live a good life and God does exist, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. If you do good and God doesn’t exist, then at least you didn’t waste your life.Vidal, the Marxist, likes the idea of Pascal but his friend Jean-Louis, the Catholic, does not. Jean-Louis doesn’t agree with his view on Christianity for several reasons I never understood. When the two friends end up at Maud’s, the conversation turns to Jean-Louis and his love for a woman he has never met. At some point, Vidal leaves and he is left with a choice: whether to sleep with Maud, who he clearly has an attraction to, or a random woman. Maud, for her part, is trying really hard to get Jean-Louis into bed. He is able to hold firm to his convictions until the middle of the night when he crawls into bed with her to get warm. In the morning, she rolls over and he embraces her. My first reaction was approval at his logic. But then he ultimately rejected her advances, and maybe that was for the best. When Jean-Louis meets his dream girl the very next day, he is seemingly rewarded for not backing down. The two get married and live happily ever.

My husband came up with the idea that Jean-Louis bet on meeting the girl of his dreams and, even if she had never appeared,  made the right choice not to sleep with Maud. I’d think about the movie further, except it has already exceeded the time spent watching the movie and so I am obligated to stop.

Final review: 2/5. My brain hurts.

Up next: Who knows?

Quick recap: Cleo, a French singer, must wait on the results of a biopsy. She is supposed to call the hospital in the evening so the entire film happens from 5 pm to 7 pm, as she ponders life and her fate.

It took me almost the entire movie to realize the numbers were the time

Fun (?) fact: There isn’t much fact-wise about this film, probably because not much happens. The only mildly interesting thing I could find is that ‘Cleo from 5 to 7’ is considered a French Wave film, which I can pretend to have an opinion about now.

The random kittens were a nice touch

My thoughts: I realize I don’t have much to go on, seeing as how I have only seen 3 French films, but the ones I have seen are….different. I am well aware that ‘French’ isn’t a genre, but from Amélie to Murmur of the Heart to this movie, there is a connecting thread of Frenchness. That’s not a bad thing, because I find it amusing to finally understand what pop culture has been alluding to this whole time.

The concept of filming in ‘real time’, as Cleo waits for the results of her test is interesting, but also kind of boring because nothing happens. Most of the movie is just watching her be sad with her friend, sad at her house, sad with her managers, sad at a café and even sad at the park. I get the point, that this is an existential movie where nothing is supposed to happen, but that doesn’t make it any less boring. Once in awhile, when Cleo was gazing sadly at nothing in particular, she would do a voice over and say something profound. But for the most part, there was just a lot of looking sad. My favorite was in the café when she put her own song to play on the jukebox and then watched sadly as no one paid attention to it.

less sadness. More random kittens.

It would be unfair of me to pretend that I despised this movie because really, there were some enjoyable parts. I most identified with Cleo’s transformation from ‘baby doll’ to actual woman by the end of the film. Once she took off that ridiculous wig and donned her black dress, she become 50% less insufferable. Her conversation with the soldier was also really nice. I daresay he was my favorite part of the film because he was just so likeable and was able to draw a real discussion out of Cleo. Although there wasn’t much of a plot, I felt the ending when the diagnosis was confirmed was the best way to go. She takes the news stoically and then confides to the soldier that now she is happy. Considering the soldier was shipping off to war that night, the fact that both of them had uncertain futures was especially poignant.

Final review: 3/5. I didn’t hate it. I was amused by the silent film that played in the middle of this movie. It was funny and also very French, as it should be.

I thought I was watching a Wes Anderson film during the opening credits

Up next: Kramer vs. Kramer