Rating: 4.5/5
At Catholic mass during Christmas, Jean-Louis (Trintignant) sees the woman he is going to marry, the blonde Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault), though the two have never officially met
Later, Jean-Louis runs into Vidal (Antoine Vitez), an old school friend he hasn’t seen in years. Vidal invites him to spend an evening with a fling of his named Maude (Françoise Fabian)
There, the three discuss religion, Pascal, and how chance and probability factor into their worldview — Vidal believes that taking a risk, even if the odds are against him, is what expands life and its possibilities — Jean-Louis believes that luck has predestined his choices so that they sufficiently fit with his morality. Vidal ducks out early, leaving Jean-Louis and Maude to continue their conversation and spend the night together
Making a movie with such a long continuous conversation is hard to keep compelling, but this script lets things swing from philosophical to idle chat so deftly and convincingly
The movie feels so spontaneous like they decided on scenes as they went depending on weather and circumstances, but the whole film is so well structured, and the script is so sharp
Everyone’s performances are perfect — there’s such a naturalism to the way everything
I loved it
Stray Thoughts
- Maud’s daughter wakes up because she wants to see the Christmas tree lights
- The outdoor French market looks cool — I love the shelves of cheese
- Was this an influence on My Dinner with Andre? Both films are very similar conceptually (although here the conversation is not the bulk of the movie, but still a good chunk)