"Mademoiselle" is a genuinely strange film--one that is very, very difficult to describe or understand. The title character is played by Jeanne Moreau and she's a school teacher with a strange obsession. She loves to do evil things to the folks in her village. Mostly, she lights fires, but she also poisons their cattle and floods their farms. There really is no explanation for much of this behavior--she just likes to do evil things. Yet, she really isn't crazy, as she's the school teacher and KNOWS what she's going is wrong. Later, you realize part of the reason she lights fires is that Manou (Ettore Manni) looks so manly as he battles these fires. However, at the same time, the villagers begin to blame Manou for the fires. After all, he has a lot of nerve being a foreigner!! At the same time, Mademoiselle takes great delight in making Manou's son feel worthless--and treats him abominably in the classroom. What does all this mean? I really am not sure. In fact, I am not sure there's much behind all this and making heads or tales of it is a dilemma. It was well made but that just isn't enough. All in all, a strange movie that left me baffled--and I assume your reaction will probably be about the same.
By the way, there seem to be a lot of dead animals in the film--including a rabbit that is beaten to death. I sure hope they didn't do this just for the film, but it sure looks like they did. What a waste.
By the way, there seem to be a lot of dead animals in the film--including a rabbit that is beaten to death. I sure hope they didn't do this just for the film, but it sure looks like they did. What a waste.