La moustache (2005)

Marc is sitting in his bath one morning and asks his wife, "how would you feel if I shaved off my mustache?" She doesn't think it's a great idea, for the 15 years they've been married, ... See full summary »

Director:

Emmanuel Carrère

Writers:

Jérôme Beaujour, Emmanuel Carrère (novel)

Stars:

Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric

4 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Lindon	...	Marc Thiriez
Emmanuelle Devos	...	Agnès Thiriez
Mathieu Amalric	...	Serge Schaeffer
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Bruno
Cylia Malki	...	Samira
Macha Polikarpova	...	Nadia Schaeffer
Fantine Camus	...	Lara Schaeffer
Frédéric Imberty	...	Patron café
Brigitte Bémol	...	Policière
Denis Ménochet	...	Serveur
Franck Richard	...	Chauffeur taxi
Elizabeth Marre	...	Hôtesse Roissy
Teresa Li	...	Caissière ferry-boat
Hin-Wai Au	...	Contrôleur passeport
Gary Kuo Chan Chung	...	Employé aéroport

Storyline

Marc is sitting in his bath one morning and asks his wife, "how would you feel if I shaved off my mustache?" She doesn't think it's a great idea, for the 15 years they've been married, she's never known him without his 'stache. He shaves it off anyway, but when he sees his wife, she doesn't notice, neither do their friends at dinner that night, neither do his co-workers. Marc finally flips out, shouts at everyone, tells them he's tired of their little joke, and what do they really think. His wife and co-workers are appalled, what is he talking about, he's never had a mustache. In fact, he's imagining other things as well, or is he?

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Plot Keywords:

mustache | hitchcockian | photograph | bathtub | water | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Pathé [France]

Country:

France

Language:

French English Cantonese

Release Date:

6 July 2005 (France)

Also Known As:

A bajusz

Filming Locations:

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Roissy-en-France, Val-d'Oise, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$319,216 (France), 22 July 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films des Tournelles, Pathé Renn Productions, France 3 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the restaurant scene, there was more wine in the glass the second time Agnes took a drink than the moment before.

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Connections

Referenced in The Pack (2010)

User Reviews

Recommended!

This is a strange story of mental illness (at least that's how I chose to interpret it). A man, Marc, gradually loses his grip on reality after shaving his mustache that was always there as part of his look as a man (or at least he thinks it was). The movie is seen through Marc's perspective which makes it difficult to discern reality from his bouts of schizophrenic hallucinations.

At some points the movie reminds me of Lost Highway in the manner with which it represented the split of the protagonist (or rather a metamorphosis) into two different characters. In La Moustache the split happens at the level of the "life" of the protagonist, his world is constantly subjected to transformations, while he more or less stays the same. However in LH we can discern the "true" part of the protagonist from his "imagined" part. That distinction is impossible in La Moustache ; we don't know where his madness starts and where it ends. He is a total mess, and it is upon this ambiguity that everything we see is built.

All in all, this movie was a really nice surprise that I highly enjoyed and that I recommend for fans of Lynch, Cronenberg and psychological thrillers/dramas.