Mouchette

Mouchette is a 1967 French film directed by Robert Bresson, starring Nadine Nortier, and Jean-Claude Guilbert. It is based on the novel by Georges Bernanos.

Plot

This film tells the story of a young girl whose life is met with countless tragedies. Mouchette (Nadine Nortier) lives in an isolated rural village with her alcoholic father and bed-stricken mother, where she is forced to take care of her infant brother and do all of the housework. At school, Mouchette is mocked and ignored by her classmates and teacher.

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One night, during a rainstorm, Mouchette becomes lost in the woods. She is found by Mr. Arsene (Jean-Claude Guilbert), an epileptic game poacher and drunkard. Unsure of whether he had just murdered a man, Arsene convinces Mouchette to stay with him, using her as an alibi. As she tries to leave, he throws her to the floor and rapes her. She returns home, where her sick mother dies in the night. Adding to her misery, she is called a slut by a store clerk who notices scratch marks on her chest. She decides to take her life into her own hands, throwing herself down a hill and into a body of water, and drowning.

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