The Mouth Agape - Monique (Monique Mélinand) is an older yet not elderly woman. She is dying of cancer. When the Paris hospital can do no more for her, she returns to her home in the Auvergne region. There she is cared for by her philandering husband Roger (Hubert Deschamps), her philandering son Philippe (Philippe Léotard) and daughter-in-law Nathalie (Nathalie Baye) to live out her final days.
There's a lot of death in the movies. In most cases, it comes suddenly and violently. A hail of bullets, the stab of a switchblade, hit by a car, once in a while a heart attack. Although there are some exceptions -- Bergman's
Cries and Whispers, or Allan King's haunting documentary
Dying at Grace -- you rarely see death protracted, the type of death that many of us will experience. You don't see a body wasting away. Pialat, however, does not flinch. From the very beginning of the film Monique is ill, and gradually she becomes weaker and weaker. She stumbles in her step. She is confined to bed. She struggles to speak. Eventually, she labors just to moan and breathe, and Pialat lets us (or makes us) share in her pain... and her isolation. She becomes less and less human, and her family becomes more and more distant.
But despite their obvious flaws, Roger and Philippe are not demonized. This isn't the tale of nasty, self-centered assholes who can't wait for a loved one to expire for the sake of easing their own inconvenience and discomfort. We may not like them -- especially when their libidos go wandering -- but they unhesitatingly take on the responsibility of caring for Monique, and with little complaint. We aren't allowed to easily place them in convenient boxes, and their stories do not wrap up tidily. And what to make of Monique's brother Emil... never seen, but frequently commented on? Pialat doesn't permit quick judgment.
A fine, thoughtful and well-realized film all around. Rating:
Very Good (83)