at Maud's House "One Night at Maud's House" actually tells a story about one-night stands. Rohmer designed Louis to be an engineer who studies mathematics in business, and Vital to be an engineer. A philosophy lecturer who spends a lot of the film talking about Pascal and religion with the heroine. Obviously, an oriental director would not tell a story about a one-night stand like this. Rohmer gave me the impression that he was trying to divulge the logical roots of the characters' behavior in the film's philosophical and religious dialogue.
On Christmas Eve, Vital took Jean Louis to his lover Maud's house. They smoked some cigarettes, drank a little wine, and talked a little about Pascal, mostly religion and love. It's snowing, and for Maud, it's a blessing in disguise, and it's obvious that she's interested in having Louis. Vital went home, leaving Louis to stay because of the distance. In front of Maud's provocative words and actions, Louis neither gave in nor refused, and his attitude was ambiguous. He and the clothed blanket stayed the night beside Maud. When he woke up the next day, Maud was in his arms, and he couldn't hold it anymore, and the two kissed fiercely. But I don't know which string went wrong. Perhaps the sudden intervention of morality and religious precepts made Louis push Maud away. For a woman, this is a shameful thing. Maud jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, letting Louie jump over and hug her. "I like people who understand their needs," Maud said. Obviously this is a word of accusation and rejection. The so-called one-night stand didn't happen, it just ended.
From the later episodes (the two climb a mountain together, and their encounter years later), it can be seen that the two have the emotional basis for a one-night stand and its eventual realization, even though Jean Louis is Catholic and Maud is an atheist. It's a pity that Maud moved out of the town soon, so that Louis finally caught up with Françova.
When Louis proposes to François, François is in deep distress, and she confesses that she once had a lover. Her distressed expression tells us that this is a serious matter for a Catholic. In order to keep François in a moral balance in front of him, let Louis say that he had also had a one-night stand, and that the morning he met her, he had just come out of that woman's house. The obstacle is thus lifted.
Five years later, they have a lovely child. While on vacation, they met Maud. During the chat, Louis discovered that Maud and Françova knew each other. This encounter made Louis and Maud's psychology very subtle, and it can be seen from the conversation that they were slightly moved by the past. Psychologically more subtle is François. After saying goodbye to Maud, Louis found his wife with a heavy expression. He thought his wife was angry with his one-night stand girlfriend, so he wanted to tell her the truth, but that one-night stand didn't come true. But cautiously, he found that his wife's heaviness was an expression of remorse. He suddenly understood that perhaps his wife's former lover had something to do with Maud. In the Christmas Eve conversation, Maud had described the ex-husband's lover. Does her feature match Françova's? The film does not directly answer this question. Let Louis have an idea and confess that the one-night stand is his last romance, and then he meets the person who will be with him for the rest of his life. Francois was finally relieved, and the family happily ran to the sea.
An unfulfilled one-night stand plays a key role in the moral balance of two Catholics' relationship. But this one-night stand, we can't say it doesn't exist. It already exists in the desires of Maud and Jean-Louis, and once spoken, it exists in the moral scales of Jean-Louis and François.
(Jia Mu/2008.4.2, Zhangjiawan, Beijing)
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