MY NIGHT AT MAUD'S Movie Review

My Night with Maud
Ma Nuit Chez Maud

Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is an engineer who is also a practicing Catholic; he's designed his life as if it were one of his engineering projects, but a moral crisis ensues when he's forced to spend a snowbound night at the home of the beautiful—and atheistic—Maud (Françoise Fabian). Not long after, Jean-Louis meets the girl of his dreams—or at least the girl of his plans—in the person of the pretty, blonde, and Catholic Françoise (Marie-Christine Barrault). One of the most celebrated of director Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales cycle, My Night at Maud's is a smart and engaging series of conversations, confrontations, and dilemmas of conscience. A witty dissection of human frailties, feelings, desires, and guilt, Rohmer's razor-sharp interplay of character and situation may look “talky,” but is in fact one of the most intellectually dynamic films of the modern era. The crystalline black-and-white images are courtesy of the great Nestor Almendros. Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay.

NEXT STOP … Claire's Knee, Summer, Rendezvous in Paris

1969 111m/B FR Jean-Louis Trintignant, Francoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault, Antoine Vitez; D: Eric Rohmer; W: Eric Rohmer; C: Nestor Almendros. New York Film Critics Awards ‘70: Best Screenplay; National Society of Film Critics Awards ‘70: Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘70: Best Foreign-Language Film.; Best Story & Screenplay. VHS, LV