Down the Rabbit Hole Project: Black Moon (1975)

NOTE: This essay is based off a viewing of the French language version of the film.

Fleeing a civil war between men and women, teenager Lily seeks refuge in a bizarre country household populated by a pig, a critical old lady who talks to a rat, a mute brother and sister, sheep, and a talking unicorn.

The weird, weird twin to Alice or the Last Escapade (1977), Black Moon thrives on dreamlike, limited sense and the ability of audience interpretation. As such this essay will be focused on context, techniques, and Carroll comparisons. Please note that this essay is just my interpretation of the film, and I recommend you see it and come up with your own.

Context

Filmed at the director's estate in  "the.. beautiful Causses region of southwest France" (Vincendeau, "Louis in Wonderland", 2011) in 1974, Black Moon is considered to be the oddest film directed by Louis Malle, the French New Wave director. For this film Malle turned to his own dreams, the feminist movement, and classic children's literature for inspiration to create a freeform fairy tale for adults. It also pushed him to " the limits of the medium" (Vincendeau, "Louis in Wonderland", 2011) The stylistic choices Malle used in the film utilized a scoreless sound palette, amplified sounds, such as the scene where Lily watches a caterpillar in the grass, and long lingering shots, an example being of the shots of the rooms of the mansion.

These techniques are used to create a distinct sense of unreality. However this sense of unreality, unlike other surrealist works, is not used to initiate unease from the audience. As Thomas Puhr in his essay points out, "even in.. violent and disturbing moments, a serene melancholy imbues every frame." (Puhr, "Malle Moon", 2017)

Looking Glass House, and childhood imagination

"Oh! What fun it'll be. When they see me through the glass in here, and can't get at me!" (Carroll, "Looking Glass", 9)

Much like Alice or the Last Escapade (1977), this film is also preoccupied with notions of a looking glass house, into which the protagonist escapes. This is especially important in Black Moon as Lily escapes a fraught war situation into an Eden like garden and house which is an "idyllic, childlike world" (Puhr, "Malle Moon", 2017)

The house's nature really becomes apparent in a scene towards the end of the film, where two children sing opera as the sun goes down. It is also seen in the scenes where Lily observes the children herding lambs in the garden.

And much like looking glass house's place in Alice's imagination, the mansion for Lily is a place of childhood where the real world doesn't encroach upon. 

Pigs, critical elderly women, and Lily's personality

"It was neither more nor less a pig" (Carroll, "Wonderland", 64)

Upon coming into the mansion Lily's first encounter is with a pig who yells at her in a nonsense language from a high chair. Malle in this scene drops in a obvious allusion to the Duchess's pig baby in Carroll's Wonderland, Lily watches enthralled as it attempts to grab milk from a jug.

Puhr points out that this scene "in which Lily struggles to clutch a... glass of milk... [the viewer is] reminded of those... potions that caused... Alice to shrink" (Puhr, "Malle Moon", 2017) And it is also notable that this scene readies Lily for the adventures that follow, much as the 2 chapters in Wonderland's hall of doors do for Carroll's Alice. 

The pig leads to Lily discovering the bedridden old lady upstairs who is Duchess like in tone, as her main penchant is criticizing Lily through a radio broadcaster. Because of her Alice like politeness,"Lily shrugs off every insult... with little more than annoyance." (Smalley, "Black moon", 2015) This also features later on when Lily realizes the woman has tricked her through feigning death. Lily takes her frustrations out on the furniture before composing herself and flipping back to politeness. 

Unicorns, denial, and trauma

"Well now we have seen each other" said the unicorn, "If you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?" "Yes, if you like" said Alice."  (Carroll, "Looking Glass", 107)

One of the main scenes in the film comes when Lily manages to track down the unicorn she followed to the mansion again, surprised that this time it can talk. They argue about the ethics of eating  the garden flowers and the unicorn claims the old lady living upstairs doesn't exist.

 

This scene is full of obvious Lewis Carroll references, from a plate being thrown out of the window, to screaming flowers to the unicorn itself. Smalley in his essay for 366weirdmovies, notes that Lily's line "In my books, Unicorns are slim, and white" is similar in tone to "Carroll’s fastidious young heroine" (Smalley, "Black Moon", 2015)

 

This scene cleverly exploits the duality of the film's narrative. Lily has just seen a man from the war be buried by the brother of the house, and has screamed in trauma. But this scene with the unicorn has the tone of children's literature. Unlike Carroll's Alice, Malle's Lily is hiding from a terrible reality. It has been noted that Lily speaks "[in] the tone of a children's story, but she is so obviously not wrapped... In a children's story" (10RoomBizzarro, "Black Moon 1975", 2016) I would also add that Lily's obsession with viewing everything through Alice style lenses, makes her as a character sympathetic as we know as viewers the reality she is attempting to deny.

  

The war subtext is shown at the beginning when Lily flees on foot down a wooded road after being intimidated by soldiers. Crucially a woman in a gas mask sees Lily. This links in with Malle's theme of feminism and later on Lily finds a home in a place where matriarchal figures such as the sister and the elderly lady dominate.

 

The war is also shown later in the film as manifesting in split second trauma hallucinations, such as the scene in which the elderly lady grabs Lily and Lily sees a soldier in her place. After this scene the war begins to slowly encroach on the house.  This climaxes in the ending where Lily's imagination is brought kicking and screaming to reality. Denial, Malle seems to suggest, only works for a limited time. 

A Mad tea party and ostracization 

 

"Alice did not quite know what to say to this: so she helped herself to some bread-and-butter" (Carroll, "Wonderland", 77)

The scene where Lily attempts to sit and eat with the mansions family, which ultimately leaves her to eat elsewhere, shows us that Lily is on the threshold of the strange household. She is not considered a proper member yet. Like the mad tea party in Wonderland, Lily's presence, like Alice's, is amusing for the table sitters until it is not. Both Alice and Lily are ostracized from their gatherings. Alice by being taunted by the Hatter and March Hare to the point of leaving, and Lily realising the family do not want her to sit with them.

 

This scene typifies the characterization of Lily for most of the film. In that she is constantly on the outside observing characters. It is not until the end of the film when Lily is welcomed into the household. Which leads me nicely to the opera scene...

Welcome Queen Lily...

"Put cats in the coffee and mice in the tea - and welcome Queen Alice with thirty-times-three!" (Carroll, "Looking Glass", 145)

The scene in which the inhabitants of the house gather round to watch two children sing opera is a coronation of sorts for Lily. In this scene she is finally integrated into the family's household and is told to play the music for the song via a piano. This is similar to Carroll's Queen Alice chapter in Through the Looking Glass as Alice becomes Queen, and is welcomed into the Looking Glass World as an inhabitant.

 

However like this chapter in Carroll, the dreamlike atmosphere of the odd opera celebration in Black Moon doesn't last. The next day all hell breaks loose as the war comes crashing into the house, thus ending the inhabitants era of innocence.

 

Conclusion

 

With Black Moon, Malle created a beguiling, slow, logic less fairy tale which rewards audiences willing to make their own interpretations. One of the definitive rabbit hole films of the 1970s, and one which still haunts and confuses now.

 

NEXT WEEK: A case for a Rookie Hangman (1970) : A rare look at the rabbit hole trope when applied to male protagonists.

 

References:

 

Books:

 

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's adventures in Wonderland, London: Puffin Books, 1994.

 

Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking-glass and what Alice found There, London: Puffin Books, 2003.

 

Online articles and essays:

 

(366weirdmovies), Gregory J. Smalley. “209. BLACK MOON (1975).” 366 Weird Movies,  published October 2, 2018. Accessed July 7th, 2020. https://366weirdmovies.com/209-black-moon-1975/.

 

Vincendeau, Ginette. “Black Moon: Louis in Wonderland.” Criterion: The Current. The Criterion Collection, published June 28, 2011. Accessed July 7th 2020. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1907-black-moon-louis-in-wonderland.

 

Puhr, Thomas. “Four Frames: Black Moon (Louis Malle, 1975).” The Big Picture. The Big Picture Magazine, published February 1, 2017. Accessed July 7th 2020. http://thebigpicturemagazine.com/four-frames-black-moon-louis-malle-1975/.

 

Videos

 

BLACK MOON 1975 REVIEW, 10ROOM BIZZARRO . Youtube, published November 12, 2016. Accessed July 7th, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubuP27UJpSs