CLASSIC MOUSTACHES FOR MOVEMBER BLOGATHON

 Bette's Classic Movie Blog is sponsoring the Classic Moustaches for Movember Blogathon


During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

The idea is that men be sponsored to grow a moustache, with the proceeds given to the cause. You can donate directly at the Movember  site.  Since I started growing a moustache the day after I graduated high school in 1967, and have had one ever since, I can't quite grow one myself. It could be suggested that I shave mine off and re-grow one. But after having watched the film, La Moustache, a few years ago, I dare not. La Moustache, while not quite a classic film, is the subject of this post. The movie is very intriguing, but is far different from the clear message and purpose of Movember. Nonetheless, the film not only has (or had) a moustache on the lead character, the moustache is the existential theme of the entire movie.

If you like all your movies with clear plots and logical resolutions - you needn't look for this little gem of an existential film.  Rene Magritte's painting, Cela N'est Pas une Pipe, is an oil on canvas depicting a smoking pipe. The artwork's title translates as, "This is Not a Pipe," and indeed it isn't - it's a painting. And similarly with this film, it is not a story packaged with answers as to its meaning, or what the director's message was. Directed by Emmanuel Carrere and based on his novel, it questions reality and the role other's perception plays in our self-understanding and self-creation.

One day Parisian architect Marc Thiriez, played by Vincent Lindon, decides to shave of his moustache. What if he did, he asks his wife? His wife, played by Emmanuelle Devos, doesn't notice when his moustache is gone.  So finally he asks her what she thinks - only to hear her say that he never had a moustache. Later at a dinner with friends they too deny that he has ever had a moustache. Surly this must be a joke.

But at work even his colleagues now deny that he ever had a moustache. This is no longer a joke. Is it a plot? Did people ever know who he really was? Marc begins to question whether he knows himself.  He becomes disoriented and argumentative. There must be a logical answer, certainly there must be proof. He looks through old photos, he looks through the trash, his wife thinks he's insane.

Marc shows his photo I.D. to a policewoman. Wasn't that a moustache? He has now lost his bearings. He decides to leave before his wife has him committed. He flees to Hong Kong to find himself. Though crowded with people it still represents the philosophy of the Orient. Perhaps the answer is there. But the answer he finds and the end of the film is a somersault of reality.

La Moustache was Emmanuel Carrere's directorial debut. He has been compared to David Lynch. He purposefully avoided providing a message in his movie, and if asked, he would say he didn't know what its meaning was. If Rod Serling were here to provide a final narration, he might say, "Marc Thierez, Parisian architect, 40sh. Marc has a stylish wife and a sleek home. He is considered handsome. On this day he decides to shave his moustache. He looks into his mirror as he's always done. But the face in the mirror is not his own, what he sees is his reflection - in the Twilight Zone."