The rigid principles of a devout Catholic man are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
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Title: My Night at Maud's (1969)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Jean-Louis Trintignant | ... | Jean-Louis | |
| Françoise Fabian | ... | Maud | |
| Marie-Christine Barrault | ... | Françoise | |
| Antoine Vitez | ... | Vidal | |
| Léonide Kogan | ... | Concert Violinist | |
 |
Guy Léger | ... | Priest |
|
|
Anne Dubot | ... | Blonde Friend |
Thirty-four year old engineer Jean-Louis has just started a new job in Clermont. He leads a relatively solitary life not knowing anyone in town besides his work colleagues, he who has made a conscious decision that they should not become his de facto friends just because they work together. His choice not to socialize in town is due also in part to his situation and needing to make the long daily commute to/from Ceyrat where he currently lives. He has had his fair share of women over the course of his adult life, he now choosing to adhere more closely to his Catholic beliefs in approaching romantic and sexual relationships with women solely in the goal of love and marriage. Although not knowing her or having talked to her, he believes the pretty blonde he sees at church at Sunday morning services is the woman destined to be his wife. Within this situation of his new life, he has lately been reading the writings of Blaise Pascal, the mixture of mathematics and Catholicism in particular... Written by Huggo
That's an intelligent film, provocative and still fresh despite it's 35 years old... This is the film which made Rohmer a worldwide known director in 1969. The beauty of "Ma nuit chez Maud" is that everything seems so natural, it seems that the camera captures situations which are not staged. It's like the camera is in a flat or in the street, and characters don't pay attention to it... Rohmer makes films as if they were documentaries!, that's an original and unique approach.
These are among the reasons, I think, for the freshness of the movie. Because the way people talk, cherish their own opinions and express emotions is something which still happens today in human relationships! The film contains exactly situations of the ordinary life -you don't see that movie and think "It's only a film!".
Good performance -as always- of Jean-Louis Trintignant and superb black and white cinematography by Nestor Almendros.