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Mood Indigo (film)

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Mood Indigo
French theatrical release poster
Directed byMichel Gondry
Screenplay byLuc Bossi
Michel Gondry
Based onFroth on the Daydream
by Boris Vian
Produced byLuc Bossi [fr]
Starring
CinematographyChristophe Beaucarne
Edited byMarie-Charlotte Moreau
Music byÉtienne Charry [fr]
Production
companies
Brio Films
SCOPE Invest
Scope Pictures
Cinémag 7
Distributed byStudioCanal
Release date
  • 24 April 2013 (2013-04-24)
Running time
131 minutes
CountriesFrance
Belgium
LanguageFrench
Budget$24 million [1]
Box office$10.4 million[2]

Mood Indigo (French: L'écume des jours, lit. "The froth of days") is a 2013 French surrealistic romantic science fantasy tragedy film co-written and directed by Michel Gondry and co-written and produced by Luc Bossi [fr], starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou. It is an adaptation of Boris Vian's 1947 novel with the same French title, translated Froth on the Daydream in English.

The film received two nominations at the 4th Magritte Awards.[3] It also received three nominations at the 39th César Awards,[4] winning in one category.[5]

Plot

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Colin has a very pleasant life: he is rich, he loves the food his cook makes (Nicolas), he loves his pianocktail (portmanteau of piano and cocktail, a word invented by Vian) and his friend Chick.

One day while having lunch with Chick, Chick tells him that he met a girl named Alise with whom he has a common passion: the writer Jean-Sol Partre (a spoonerism of Jean-Paul Sartre who was Boris Vian's friend). Colin meets Chloe at a party Chick invited him to. They fall in love, marry, but Chloe becomes ill during their honeymoon. As time passes, Chloe's condition deteriorates while the relationship between Chick and Alise turns sour due to Chick's continued devotion to Partre's works. Frustrated with their own deteriorating relationships, Colin and Alise sleep with each other, although they both come to regret it shortly after.

The aesthetic of the film changes from colorful and whimsical to monochromatic and tragic as the film progresses. These effects are observed most acutely in Colin's home, which decays supernaturally, and his mouse, who reluctantly tolerates the house until he abandons Colin.

Colin spends his fortune on treating Chloe, which causes him to passionately fire his cook and sell his pianocktail, and he slips into poverty as Chloe passes away. His friend Chick spends both his and Colin's money on anything that has to do with Partre, and Chick loses his job due to a Partre-related incident and is later killed when resisting law-enforcement officers. Alise tracks down Partre himself and kills him. Afterwards, Alise disappears. Colin, Nicolas, and his fiancé, Isis, hold a funeral for Chloe. Unable to bear the grief, Colin jumps into a river, sinking into the darkness.

Cast

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Production

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The screenplay was written by Luc Bossi and Michel Gondry and based on the 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian.[8] The novel had previously been adapted into a 1968 French film with the English title Spray of the Days, and a 2001 Japanese film with the title Chloe.[9][10] Mood Indigo was produced by Brio Films, with co-production support from France 2 Cinéma, StudioCanal, and the Belgian company Scope Pictures. It was pre-acquired by Canal+ and Ciné+, and received 650,000 euro from Eurimages.[8] The total budget was 19 million euro.[11] Filming started 10 April 2012 and ended on 23 July. Locations were used in Belgium and around Paris.[8]

The film had a troubled production, which Gondry adapted into his 2023 film The Book of Solutions.[12]

Release

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The film premiered in France and Belgium on 24 April 2013. Drafthouse Films released the film in the United States in a version cut down to 94 minutes, compared to the full runtime of 131 minutes.[13]

Reception

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The film had 861,627 admissions in France.[11] At AlloCiné's review aggregator, it has an average score of 3.0 out of 5 based on 34 French-language reviews.[14] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 61% approval rating based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The critical consensus reads, "Mood Indigo is far from Michel Gondry's most compelling work, but it doesn't skimp on the visual whimsy and heartfelt emotion fans have come to expect".[15] It also holds a 54/100 rating on Metacritic, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[16]

References

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  1. ^ "L'Ecume des jours (Mood Indigo) (2013)". JPBox-Office. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Data". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Magritte du cinéma 2014" (in French). Académie André Delvaux. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Berenice Bejo, Lea Seydoux, Roman Polanski Among France's Cesar Awards Nominees". Hollywood Reporter. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  5. ^ "France's Cesar Awards: 'Me, Myself and Mum' Wins Best Film". The Hollywood Reporter. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Casting de L'Écume des jours (2013) - SensCritique". www.senscritique.com. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  7. ^ McQuiston, Kate (27 November 2020). Music and Sound in the Worlds of Michel Gondry. Routledge. p. 43. ISBN 9780367226961.
  8. ^ a b c Lemercier, Fabien (2012-04-10). "Cameras rolling on Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo". cineuropa.org. Cineuropa. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  9. ^ Dan Pavlides. "L'Ecume Des Jours (1968)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  10. ^ Stratton, David (13 February 2001). "Chloe". Variety.
  11. ^ a b "L'Ecume des jours". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  12. ^ Kohn, Eric (18 May 2023). "Michel Gondry Drove Everyone Insane and Then Made a Movie About It". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  13. ^ Keslassy, Elsa; Hopewell, John (13 January 2014). "Drafthouse Films Tunes Into Michel Gondry's 'Mood Indigo'". Variety.
  14. ^ "L'Ecume des jours critiques presse et spectateurs". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  15. ^ "L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo) (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Mood Indigo Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
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