Une femme douce (1969) - film review

When his young wife commits suicide, leaving no explanation for her act, an introspective pawnbroker looks back on their life together and tries to understand why she had to kill herself.

Robert Bresson’s first colour film sees a marked change in the director’s style from the cold austerity and intensity of his earlier works, such as Au hasard Balthazar (1966) and Mouchette (1967).  Although the film deals with familiar Bresson themes of suicide and domestic repression, his approach in this film is far more accessible, making the film attractive to a mainstream cinema audience (for perhaps for the last time in Bresson’s film-making career).

Bresson cast a successful model Dominique Sanda in the role of the ill-fated heroine of the film, allegedly for the sound of her voice rather than her more obvious attributes. Sanda’s celebrity may have been another important factor which contributed to the film’s popularity.

© James Travers 2001

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