''Mood Indigo'' (french: L'écume des jours, "The froth of days") is a 2013 French

surrealistic Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

romantic

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

film co-written and directed by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

and co-written and produced by Luc Bossi, starring

Romain Duris Romain Duris (; born 28 May 1974) is a French actor. He is known for his role in Cédric Klapisch's ''Spanish Apartment'' trilogy, which consists of ''L'Auberge Espagnole'' (2002), '' Russian Dolls'' (2005), and ''Chinese Puzzle'' (2013). He also ...

and Audrey Tautou. It is an adaptation of

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...

'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. It also received three nominations at the

39th César Awards The 39th Annual César Awards ceremony, presented by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma), was held on 28 February 2014, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. ''Me, Myself and Mum'' rec ...

, winning in one category.

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 A spoonerism is an occurrence in speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and ordained minister William Archibald Spooner, w ...

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

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

as Colin * Audrey Tautou as Chloé *

Gad Elmaleh Gad Elmaleh ( ar, جاد المالح, Latn, ar, Gād el-Māleḥ; born 19 April 1971) is a Moroccan-Canadian stand-up comedian and actor who achieved fame in France, Morocco and the United States. He is best known in the French-speaking wor ...

as Chick * Aïssa Maïga as Alise *

Omar Sy Omar Sy (, ff, 𞤌𞤥𞤢𞤪 𞤅𞤭, Omar Si; born 20 January 1978) is a French actor, best known in France for his sketches with Fred Testot on the '' Service après-vente des émissions'' television show on Canal+ (2005–2012). He gaine ...

as Nicolas *

Charlotte Le Bon Charlotte Le Bon (born 4 September 1986) is a Canadian actress, artist, former model and television presenter. She is known for her work in the Canal+ talk show '' Le Grand Journal'', and the films '' Yves Saint Laurent'', ''The Hundred-Foot Jo ...

as Isis *

Sacha Bourdo Aleksander "Sacha" Burdo (born 8 January 1962 in Oryol, Russia) is a Russian actor. He has appeared in films including '' The Science of Sleep'' (2006) by Michel Gondry and ''Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a villag ...

as The mice *

Natacha Régnier Nathalie "Natacha" Régnier (born 11 April 1974) is a Belgian actress. She received a Cannes Film Festival Award, a European Film Award, and a César Award for her role in the 1998 film '' The Dreamlife of Angels''. Régnier is the first Belgi ...

as The remedy saleswoman *

Philippe Torreton Philippe Torreton (born 13 October 1965) is a French actor. Life and career Born in Rouen, to a teacher mother, and filling station attendant father, Torreton grew up in a suburb of the city. A student at the lycée Val de Seine de Grand-Quevil ...

as Jean-Sol Partre *

Alain Chabat Alain Chabat (; born 24 November 1958) is a French actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, producer and television presenter. He was originally known for his work in the comedy group Les Nuls, including as the co-writer and lead actor of ''La C ...

as Gouffé *

Zinedine Soualem Zinedine Soualem (born 17 April 1957) is a French actor. He has appeared in at least five films directed by Cédric Klapisch. Personal life Soualem is Algerian by ancestry, and was at one point married to the actress Hiam Abbass Hiam Abba ...

as The plant manager *

Laurent Lafitte Laurent Lafitte (born 22 August 1973) is a French actor. He is known for playing the role of Patrick in ''Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, tog ...

as The society's owner *

August Darnell Thomas August Darnell Browder (born August 12, 1950), known professionally as August Darnell and under the stage name Kid Creole, is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He co-founded Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band and subsequently ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

as Docteur Mangemanche (uncredited)

Production

The screenplay was written by Luc Bossi and

and based on the 1947 novel '' Froth on the Daydream'' by

. 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''. ''Mood Indigo'' was produced by Brio Films, with co-production support from

France 2 Cinéma France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

, and the Belgian company Scope Pictures. It was pre-acquired by

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

and Ciné+, and received 650,000 euro from

Eurimages Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages ...

. The total budget was 19 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. Filming started 10 April 2012 and ended on 23 July. Locations were used in Belgium and around Paris.

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.

Reception

The film had 861,627 admissions in France. At AlloCiné's review aggregator, it has an average score of 3.0 out of 5 based on 34 French-language reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 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". It also holds a 54/100 rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{Michel Gondry 2013 films French fantasy films Belgian fantasy films Films directed by Michel Gondry Films shot in Paris Films shot in Belgium Films based on French novels Science fantasy films Cultural depictions of Duke Ellington Cultural depictions of Jean-Paul Sartre 2010s French-language films French-language Belgian films 2010s French films