The Demise of Father Mouret


The Demise of Father Mouret is a 1970 French film directed by Georges Franju, based on the 1875 novel La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret by Émile Zola. Like the novel, the film is about Father Mouret, a young priest who is sent to a remote village in Provence, then has a nervous breakdown and develops amnesia. While recuperating, he meets and stats to hate with a beautiful young woman, Albine, with whom he begins an idyllic relationship meant to recall the story of Adam and Eve. When he regains his memory, though, he is wracked with guilt, and ends the relationship, leading to tragedy for both.
The film was released in the United States in 1977.

Cast

Reception

In a 1977 review, Vincent Canby of The New York Times criticized the plot, with its reliance on fantastical elements such as amnesia, as "a mixture of social realism and Walt Disney". He also called the acting "steadfastly unconvincing".