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Mood Indigo DVD Review

 

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Director: Michel Gondry

Cast: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Omar Sy, Aïssa Maïga, Charlotte Le Bon

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 94 minutes

Wow! I’m still scratching my head as to how I can articulate MOOD INDIGO in a way that neither discourages you from the experience nor encourages you enough to take the plunge into a fantastical world of stop motion animation, digital special effects and mechanical effects. In a nutshell, MOOD INDIGO is like THE WIZARD OF OZ met the Monty Python comedy group somewhere on the yellow brick road and decided to rewrite ‘Wolly Winker and the Focolate Chactory’ with Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Gondry’s adaption of Boris Vian’s cult novel ‘L’Ecume des Jours’ is an exhaustive tale filled with tant d’indulgence, that it struggles to deliver a tone and tempo that allows the viewer to find a balance between what is seen and heard on screen and the story expressed. And that therein, lies the problem: the non-stop whimsical flights-of-fancy such as the pianocktail, walking doorbell, mini mouse-man and the curved dining table on skates distract too much from the emotion of this tragic romance.

MOOD INDIGO tells the story of wealthy, bohemian inventor Colin (Romain Duris) who lives in a rooftop, trailer-esque apartment overlooking Paris with roommate, chef and lawyer, Nicolas (Omar Sy). Bemoaning the lack of a lover with Nicolas and ‘Patre’ fanatic pal Chick (Gad Elmaleh) over lunch, Colin decides to attend a party at Isis’ (Charlotte Le Bon) house where he meets ‘a girl like a Duke Ellington tune’ named Chloé (Audrey Tautou). After wooing her with dancing, ice-skating, and a trip across Paris in a floating cloud car, the two fall madly in love and get married.

The honeymoon, filmed in split-screen with sunshine on one side and rain on the other acts as a transitional point to a more sombre, fading setting as Chloé becomes afflicted by a dangerous lung condition after swallowing a water lily. Again, Gondry fails to connect the audience emotionally to the denouement, preferring to use evolving set designs to represent fluctuating character moods and a ‘six month later’ title card to fast forward the declining situation.

In order to pay for the ongoing and expensive medical treatments and surgery proposed by Chloé’s doctor (played by Gondry himself), Colin (who is now broke), is forced to give up his bohemian lifestyle and take on a number of jobs to save his dying wife including one in a munitions factory. This symbolic metaphor for Chloé’s death knell is also heightened visually by the muting of colour to monochrome.

Although MOOD INDIGO was a struggle from the get go, it definitely has its appeal and will be attractive to selective audiences. That audience however, just happens to not include me.

[usr=2] MOOD INDIGO is out now on DVD.

 

Apart from being the worst and most unfollowed tweeter on Twitter, Sacha loves all things film and music. With a passion for unearthing the hidden gems on the Festival trail from London and New York to her home in the land Down Under, Sacha’s favourite films include One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Fight Club, Autism in Love and Theeb. You can also make her feel better by following her @TheSachaHall.

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