Mademoiselle DVD, 1966

Scripted by Marguerite Duras from a story by Jean Genet, this is a much maligned film. Most critics applaud Jeanne Moreau's darkly obsessive performance as the French village schoolteacher who is prepared to jeopardise the lives of her unenlightened neighbours to pursue her passion for Italian woodcutter Ettore Manni. But few can find a good word for Tony Richardson's symbol-heavy direction or his seemingly prurient filming of Manni's son, Keith Skinner.

Yet this is a hugely cinematic study of destructive obsession, emotional manipulation and provincial xenophobia that is strewn with references to Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête, Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, Marcel Pagnol's Manon des Sources and François Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Moreover, Richardson follows the lead of Michelangelo Antonioni in using David Watkin's glowering monochrome photography to contrast Moreau's psychological state with her environment. Were Michael Haneke to remake this with Isabelle Huppert, it would be commended for its audacious attitude to bestial lusts. So, even though the out-of-vogue Richardson is easy to dismiss, this disconcerting drama is long overdue reappraisal.

David Parkinson on 1st August 2009
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