Mood Indigo (film)

Mood Indigo (French: L'Écume des jours) is a 2013 French surrealistic romantic science fantasy film co-written and directed by Michel Gondry and co-written and produced by Luc Bossi, starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou. It is an adaptation of Boris Vian's 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream.

Mood Indigo
French theatrical release poster
Directed byMichel Gondry
Produced byLuc Bossi
Screenplay byLuc Bossi
Michel Gondry
Based onFroth on the Daydream
by Boris Vian
StarringRomain Duris
Audrey Tautou
Gad Elmaleh
Omar Sy
Aïssa Maïga
Charlotte Le Bon
Music byÉtienne Charry
CinematographyChristophe Beaucarne
Edited byMarie-Charlotte Moreau
Production
company
Brio Films
Distributed byStudioCanal
Release date
  • 24 April 2013 (2013-04-24)
Running time
131 minutes
CountryFrance
Belgium
LanguageFrench
Budget$24 million [1]
Box office$10.4 million[2]

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

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. 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

Production

The screenplay was written by Luc Bossi and Michel Gondry and based on the 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian.[7] 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.[8][9] 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.[7] The total budget was 19 million euro.[10] Filming started 10 April 2012 and ended on 23 July. Locations were used in Belgium and around Paris.[7]

Release

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.[11]

Reception

The film had 861,627 admissions in France.[10] At AlloCiné's review aggregator, it has an average score of 3.0 out of 5 based on 34 French-language reviews.[12] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 62% approval rating based on 105 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".[13] It also holds a 54/100 rating on Metacritic, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

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References
  1. "L\'Ecume des jours (Mood Indigo) (2013)". JPBox-Office. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  2. "Data". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  3. "Magritte du cinéma 2014" (in French). Académie André Delvaux. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  4. "Berenice Bejo, Lea Seydoux, Roman Polanski Among France's Cesar Awards Nominees". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  5. "France's Cesar Awards: 'Me, Myself and Mum' Wins Best Film". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  6. "Casting de L'Écume des jours (2013) - SensCritique". www.senscritique.com.
  7. Lemercier, Fabien (2012-04-10). "Cameras rolling on Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo". cineuropa.org. Cineuropa. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  8. "L'Ecume Des Jours (1968)". NYTimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  9. Stratton, David (2001-02-13). "Chloe". Variety. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  10. "L'Ecume des jours". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  11. "Drafthouse Films Tunes Into Michel Gondry's 'Mood Indigo'". Variety. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  12. "L'Ecume des jours critiques presse et spectateurs". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  13. "L'écume des jours (Mood Indigo) (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  14. "Mood Indigo Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
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