The Mouth Agape (1974)

Monique is dying. Around her gather her unfaithful husband, her son, who is like his father, and her daughter-in-law. We observe them playing with life as she dies.

Director:

Maurice Pialat

Writer:

Maurice Pialat

Stars:

Nathalie Baye, Hubert Deschamps, Philippe Léotard

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nathalie Baye	...	Nathalie
Hubert Deschamps	...	Roger le père, 'Le Garçu'
Philippe Léotard	...	Philippe, le fils
Monique Mélinand	...	Monique, la mère
Henri Saulquin
Alain Grestau
Anna Gayane
Mireille Laurenchet
Corinne Derel
Marie-Blanche Dehaux
Christian Dehaux
Jean-Dominique de la Rochefoucauld	...	(as J.-D. de la Rochefoucauld)
Jeanne Dulac
Lucien Dulac
Anne-Claude Girard	...	(as Annie Claude Girard)

Storyline

Monique is dying. Around her gather her unfaithful husband, her son, who is like his father, and her daughter-in-law. We observe them playing with life as she dies.

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Plot Keywords:

family relationships | female full rear nudity | female full frontal nudity | large breasts | female pubic hair | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

Maurice Pialat wanted to show with that film the cancer and the agony of his own mother. He shot in Auvergne (France), close to where he spent his childhood.

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Soundtracks

COSI FAN TUTTE
Deutsche Grammophon
B.P. 138 861
(Atto Primo: Scena 5. Recitativo "Non v'e più tempo, amici" - No 9 Quintetto e Coro "De scrivermi ogni giorno" / Scena 6: Recitativo "Dove son ?" - No 10 Terzettino "Soave sia il vento") song title uncredited
Conducted by Eugen Jochum (uncredited)
Fiordiligi: Irmgard Seefried (uncredited)
Drabella: Nan Merriman (uncredited)
Ferrando: Ernst Haefliger (uncredited)
Guglielmo: Hermann Prey (uncredited)
Don Alfonso: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (uncredited)
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker (uncredited)

User Reviews

The Mouth Agape review.

Maurice Pialat's The Mouth Agape is a film about death and everything that surrounds it from diagnosis to burial. It's a film that also explores how it effects everyone close to the central character Monique whose dying from terminal liver failure.

The Mouth Agape shares the same subject matter with Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers which came out a couple of years earlier. I like to think of this film as the Yin to Cries and Whispers Yang. Stripping away the melodrama and heightened sensibility that was prevalent in the cinematography of Bergman's film. Pialat directs this film with a cold, detached nuance. His methodical almost clinical approach to illness and death delivers a striking viewing experience.

Unfortunately any plot developments that splintered off from the main story surrounding Monique became slightly dull, and had me wanting the film to focus back on her. Also I didn't find myself as engaged with the characters unlike Cries and Whispers. Every actor gives a good performance, but they didn't have much of an emotional impact on the story.

Whilst the film didn't leave with the same visceral gut punch that Cries and Whispers did. Watching Monique's disease slowly consume her through the duration of the film left an impact worthy of recommending this film to those that haven't seen it.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

8 May 1974 (France)

Also Known As:

A Vida Íntima de Um Casal

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lido Films, Les Films de la Boétie

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1