Vincent
Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos , Mathieu Amalric, Hippolyte Girardot ,
Masha Polikarpova
"What would you think
if I shaved my moustache?" asks Marc (Vincent Lindon) of his
wife, Agnès (Emmanuelle Devos), one fateful night as they prepare
to visit friends for dinner. She's never seen him without it, but
while she goes to do some last-minute shopping, he impulsively shaves
the moustache off. Thus begins a tragic odyssey that leads Marc
to question every relationship in his life, and even his own identity.
Marc's journey into darkness begins when Agnès returns home. At
first, he playfully tries to conceal what he's done. When he finally
reveals his bare face to her, with a flourish, her reaction is...nonexistent.
She baffles him by appearing not to notice the change. Confused,
he says nothing, and they proceed with their plans for the evening.
When the couple's friends Serge (Mathieu Amalric) and Nadia (Macha
Polikarpova) also fail to make note of the change in Marc's appearance,
he begins to get angry, believing that Agnès is playing an elaborate
prank on him. In the car on the way home, he loses his temper, and
it's her turn to be baffled. What moustache? How can she have noticed
that he shaved his moustache when he's never had one? While Agnès
begins to question her husband's sanity, Marc frantically searches
for evidence of his former facial hair. Things only get worse for
Marc, as no one at his job remembers him having a moustache either,
and before long, he discovers that there are other details of his
life that only he remembers. The Moustache marks the directorial
debut of Emmanuel Carrère, who adapted his own novel with Jérôme
Beaujour (She's One of Us). The film was shown as part of The Film
Society of Lincoln Center's 2006 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.
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