La moustache
Some French movies fall into this inexplicable category of intellectual French films where the intellectualism totally pisses me off. The main characters speak very correct French (so correct that I understand every single word) “La moustache” is very borderline on that.
The characters do not appear like they have high-paying jobs (you barely see them there at least), but for some reason they live in an exquisitely stylish apartment, the guy’s parents lives in the 16e arrondissement and they dine in very expensive-looking restaurants. I suppose that is a typically Parisian thing. For some reason, around 2pm, you can always see a bunch of people of all ages sit around in cafés and you wonder where they get the money AND the time to do so. Somehow that describes the entire film – it indulges itself in an unrealistic lifestyle, telling a surreal mystery story whose solution, as we all know, will not be uncovered. Similar to Antonioni films, the film is the embodiment of first world problems and I am absolutely okay with that.
Reviewers on Imdb (I am actually surprised there were so many reviews!) compare the film to “Lost Highway” and “Caché” – I disliked the first one and never saw the latter. I don’t mind unsolved mysteries à la “Copie conforme” and this mystery had a few amusing twists along the road. Especially for the first part of the film, I thought that suspense and drama were built up pretty well. Unfortunately, the last part in Hongkong proved to be unnecessarily dragging. I liked the direction and the cinematography, but looks are not all. The “exotic” Hongkong does not really contribute to the story and I wished they had cut that one a little shorter, or had set it somewhere else. This way, the Hongkong part is just pretentious, pseudo-colonial bullshit (especially with those china dresses these white women are wearing – ugh).
Not seeing this film would not make you miss anything, unless you are a huge fan of Philip Glass’ music (in which case you will get some of it). But if your date proposes to watch the movie and you are in no social position to say no, you’ll be alright.