Mood Indigo

Adapted from Boris Vian's 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream, an exact fit for Michel Gondry: the book itself takes place in a world where objects come alive and logic runs on wordplay. Colin is rich, lonely and has no need to work. He falls in love with Chloé, they marry, and she falls ill: a water lily is growing in her lung. The only treatment is to keep her surrounded by fresh flowers, and flowers cost money. As Colin's fortune drains away the film's colour drains with it; the apartment shrinks, the walls darken, the camera slows. Almost all the effects were made by hand on set: stop motion, puppetry, real mechanical rigs. The French release runs long; Gondry cut the 125-minute Cannes version down to 94 minutes for international distribution, with Tariq Anwar, who edited The King's Speech, on the recut. Most of the incoherence foreign critics complained about comes from that compression. Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh and Omar Sy star. Who it is for: viewers who can take Gondry's handmade visual world at full volume. Who it is not for: anyone who will find the invention of the first half hour exhausting. The film changes register completely in its second half, and many viewers find the turn abrupt.