La Faute de l'abbé Mouret (1970)
Directed by Georges Franju

Film Review

The last film that Georges Franju made solely for the cinema (all his subsequent work was commissioned for French television) is this haunting adaptation of Émile Zola's 1875 novel La Faute de l'abbé Mouret, the fifth installment in the author's famous Rougon-Macquart series.  It is an atypical work for Franju in many respects, not least because it is his first colour feature and is hence strikingly different from all of his previous films.  Unjustly overlooked, this is one of the more successful attempts at transposing Zola's unique literary style to the big screen, and in common with much of Franju's work offers a bleak yet incisive examination of the human psyche.

One of the most notable characteristics of Zola's novel is the abrupt change in style which comes when the central protagonist, the young country priest of the book's title, loses his memory and acquires a sudden change of identity.  Franju matches this by a similarly dramatic transition in cinematic style.  The austere country landscape, photographed in a palette of dull browns and greens, is suddenly transformed into a lush Garden of Eden, with stronger lighting and much more vibrant use of colour.  Many shots are passable imitations of paintings by impressionists, Renoir, Monet and Manet.  Franju is known for being a filmmaker with a keen visual sense, often using potent images to convey an idea or sentiment.  This is more than evident in La Faute de l'abbé Mouret, a film which contains some of the director's starkest visual compositions, some viscerally horrific.

Making a remarkable film debut in the lead role is Francis Huster, a talented young actor who would enjoy a distinguished career on stage and screen.  Only an actor of exceptional talent could play the two different sides to Mouret's persona as convincingly and with such a profound sense of tragedy.  We scarcely recognise the insouciant lover that Mouret becomes when he loses his memory and identity.  Huster creates two very different personas and yet convinces us that, underneath, they are the same individual.  The contributions from the supporting cast are just as authentic and every character is as well-drawn and believable as that in Zola's novel.  La Faute de l'abbé Mouret may not have quite the arresting visual impact of Franju's earlier work, but it is nonetheless a captivating piece of cinema, possibly the most humane film he ever made.

Film Synopsis

Serge Mouret has recently taken up his first position as parish priest in the Provençal village of Artauds.  The locals have little interest in religion and for most of the time Mouret is giving sermons to an empty church.  Far from weakening his faith, the experience of living in a heathen community merely intensifies it and the young priest suffers a nervous breakdown.  Having completely lost his memory, he is cared for by the owners of a nearby rundown mansion, Le Paradou.  Here, not knowing who he is, Mouret falls in love with Albine, an uneducated young woman who nurses him back to health.  Once recovered, Mouret pursues an idyllic love affair with Albine but when his memory returns to him he ends the relationship and returns to his former puritanical ways.  Tragedy quickly ensues...