The Moustache (2006)

I love this movie so much

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Fantastic!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I hate to think I wasted an hour and a half watching "La Moustache" but I'm led to that inevitable conclusion. Not that I don't like a puzzler every now and then, but there should be some internal consistency in a picture that brings it all together at the finale. It doesn't have to be a happy or satisfactory one for the characters, but there should be some sort of resolution for the viewer. I can just picture all the critics at Cannes discussing how brilliant this picture is, when in reality, none of them would have had a clue. Another writer on this board, Roger Burke, actually makes a pretty good case for how to decipher this film, and his explanation takes some of the edge off of my feeling about it, but if the picture is that obtuse to the point where I couldn't figure it out myself, then it's really not worth the trouble. And it's not like I wasn't paying attention to the details. For example, during the restaurant scene, there was more wine in the glass the second time Agnes took a drink than the moment before. I'm surprised Marc didn't notice that.

serious spoilers belowi really loved this film, and i didn't expect to! i always log onto IMDb (while viewing netflix) to see what people think (and to figure out the ending b/c i hate suspense.) :D i felt like i was in marc's head the whole time. i related to him running to hong kong, and i related to him being on the boat, back and forth, over the water, clearing his head, regaining a sense of balance and normalcy. (if you've ever traveled where you can't communicate the language, you tend to think... A lot... and it can be very soothing.) i loved the way the carrére showed this bit by bit, as marc started going with the flow in the culture he was a guest in, by moving the seat for the lady, getting proper change for the boat, etc.i loved that when agnés showed up, marc didn't try to argue about anything, he just went with the flow b/c he was so happy to have her back. and in true french film fashion, we get to see agnés as a beguiling woman (doing simple things like brushing her hair and packing) through marc's eyesi recall, many years ago, a great (male) pal of mine said "the way to make a woman happy is to say 'yes dear!'" now - i don't agree with that per se - but it has it's strong points, believe me - on account of we women can make very little sense to our men at times. i thought (within that concept) it was very brave of marc to shave his mustache at the little hotel. hence, he risked "losing" her again. but he finally puts the past behind him when he tosses the postcard in the water.going with the flow is something one must do as a tourist, and it's something one must do to effect compromise with one's mate. oddly - it's also something one should do to enjoy this film (judging from the comments.)this is a gorgeous, gorgeous film. all the tension in Paris is released over the water in hong kong (and glass's score suddenly feels peaceful, as opposed to totally triste.) and vincent lindon's subtlety as marc blows me away. to me, the key is in what marc wrote on the postcard, and the fact that he threw it in the water (if that makes sense.) that, to me, was the (unexpected) moment i was waiting for as a viewer. i wish i could truly define and dissect this movie as an experience - but i don't have the educational chops for that. all i can write is that i felt an emotional shift at the end, and very light. much like seeing an excellent live show, when the band is in their groove and the audience is right with them. it's a little bit of a give and take, i guess, between carrére and us.

Maybe this movie does not follow normal or accepted modes of exposition. Maybe what is infuriating some of the posters is that they have been fooled into thinking that it is a 'typical' movie - albeit with a somewhat strange premise - and that it will resolve like similar movies (Vertigo, Sixth Sense come to mind).Actually, it has more in common with surrealist movies by directors like Luis Bunuel (i.e. 'Andalusian Dog') than Hitchcock, Shyamalan or Lynch. I must admit, I didn't come this understanding at first. I was tired when I watched it and knew nothing about it beforehand. I watched it through to the end and then sat there stewing and wondering what I had just watched.The story is told through the eyes of the main character, Marc, but unlike Bunuel or Dali, this director did not scream 'dream' or 'hallucination' at the audience. Instead, you are lulled into believing that you are 'viewing' a story unfold rather than being in the story - inhabiting Marc's point of view.I felt the frustration that someone who is going through a breakdown (or nightmare) might feel. Feeling betrayed by those close to you (Bruno and Agnes discussing the 'chemical strait-jacket' she slipped into his drink) - allowing emotion to override logic (why DIDN'T he show those pictures to Agnes??). Taking for granted that it was moving in a temporally forward direction rather than picking up at the middle moving to the beginning then winding up at the... beginning? I am confused and betrayed, Marc is confused and betrayed. Many viewers probably felt ripped off (judging from some of the comments on this forum). What did I (Marc) imagine? What was real? Who are the villains? Are there villains? Was this a dream? Did I have a psychotic episode?You can be angry at being tricked into believing many things in this movie. Tricked by the style that doesn't clue you into its intentions causing you to walk away unsatisfied. Tricked by the dead-end narrative lines carried by Hitchcock or Lynchian devices that don't deliver the implied payoff. And unlike a movie such as the Sixth Sense, going back to review it for hints of the ending is pointless. We all know he had a mustache in the photos. We all know he went to Hongkong by himself (don't we?).It might be that the great sin of this movie is that its premise of irreality was never signaled. Everything appeared real - just as it might appear to a victim of mental illness.

The basic story idea for LA MOUSTACHE is unique and intrigued me. A seemingly insignificant action occurs and then a man's entire existence changes! This occurs when the lead, on a whim, shaves off his mustache. Oddly, his wife didn't notice nor did his friends. At first, it's no big deal, but later the man becomes angry--how could they be so self-absorbed that they didn't notice or care?! Oddly, when confronted, they have no recollection that he had one, even though the audience saw he had one and saw pictures of the man with the mustache! This part of the film was interesting and pulled me in very well.However, out of the blue, the man disappears to Hong Kong and from then on the plot really makes no sense at all. At first, I thought I'd missed something when the film ended--there were just too many dangling plot points and things that just confused me. So, I watched the "making of featurette" on the DVD and one of the main characters confided that she read the script and she was also confused and it made no sense. Some people might like this and normally I don't mind a film that leaves unanswered questions, but this goes way beyond this to just confusing and...well, stupid. It took a film that might have earned a 7 or 8 and made it, at best, a 4.Decent acting but a bad script sink this film. But, like so many sub-par films, the DVD case made it sound amazing and worthwhile with phrases like "A paranoid thriller in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock" or "...a mini-masterwork". Yeah, right. The film had little to do with Hitchcock's style and comparisons to Hitchcock are a dime a dozen. Many of Chabrol's films (even his bad ones) are also often compared to Hitchcock's and I'm getting sick of this disingenuous advertising. One of the very few films that might really deserve this comparison is the original LES DIABOLIQUES. In contrast, LA MOUSTACHE seemed about as "Hitchcockian" as MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III!