Archive of films Land of Madness / La terre de la folie

France
2009, 90 min

Section: Documentary Films - Competition
Year: 2009

In his latest movie, French film legend Luc Moullet analyzes the fecund occurrence of psychological disorders and their attendant murders and suicides during the past century in a southern French region at the base of the Alps.

Synopsis

"The great-grand-nephew of the great grandfather of my great-great-grandmother one day took a pickax to kill the village mayor, his wife, and the forester who was guilty of having moved his goat ten yards away. It provided me with a good starting point... There have been other similar occurrences in the family.” Thus writer-director Luc Moullet on his latest feature film, in which he analyzes the unusually fecund occurrence of psychological disorders and their attendant misconduct during the past century in a remote southern French region at the base of the Alps. Does a connection exist between a rudimentary thyroid gland, isolation, or the abundance of religious sects and the most multifarious kinds of murder and suicide? Blessed with an infectious obstinance and his characteristic dry humor, Moullet studies the causes and consequences of a phenomenon that falls into the so-called pentagon of madness.

About the director

Luc Moullet (b. 1937, Paris) was a passionate film fan even as a boy. At age 18 he began writing for Cahiers du cinéma, and there he met Truffaut, Godard, Rivette, Chabrol, and Rohmer. He has written essays on Luis Buñuel, Fritz Lang, and King Vidor. Several shorts at the beginning of the 1960s led to his first feature, Brigitte et Brigitte, in 1966. To date he has turned out 38 movies in a wide variety of styles and genres (comedy, adventure, erotica, detective, road movie, and western), which are united by a single phenomenon – their creator’s passion for the comic. After a 40-year hiatus, Moullet returned to Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section with his latest film Land of Madness.

Contacts

Doc & Film International
13, rue Portefoin, 750 03, Paris
France
Tel: +33 142 775 687
Fax: +33 142 773 656
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.docandfilm.com

+ 1

About the film

Color, 35 mm
International premiere

Section:	Documentary Films - Competition

Director:	Luc Moullet
Screenplay:	Luc Moullet
Dir. of Photography:	Pierre Stoeber
Editor:	Anthony Verpoort
Producer:	Serge Lalou
Production:	Les Films d`Ici
Contact:	Doc & Film International

Guests

Luc Moullet

Film Director, Film Director