Maquillage: A Faded Snapshot of Old French Drama

Is it worth your time?

If you're a fan of 1930s European cinema, you’ll probably find this a cozy way to kill an hour. If you need a fast-paced plot or modern sensibilities, you’re going to be checking your watch every five minutes. It’s slow, it’s theatrical, and it’s very much a product of its time.

Honestly, the whole thing feels a bit like peeking into someone else’s dusty attic. You find some beautiful things, but you also find a lot of stuff that doesn't make much sense anymore.

The Vibe

There’s this one scene where the lighting hits the set just right, and for a second, I forgot I wasn't sitting in a real theater back in the day. The actors are doing that classic, very deliberate way of speaking where every word is a performance. It’s intense, maybe a bit too much for a Tuesday afternoon.

Edwige Feuillère is doing some heavy lifting here. You can tell she’s the one holding the scenes together while everyone else is just kind of milling about. She carries the screen like she’s trying to drag the rest of the cast into the 20th century by force.

• The makeup work? Actually pretty impressive for the era.
• The dialogue feels like it was written to be shouted from the back row.
• I’m still not sure what the deal was with that one side character in the lobby.

It reminded me a bit of the pacing issues I had with The Strange Love of Molly Louvain. It’s got that same “let’s just keep talking until the reel runs out” energy. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different.

The camera barely moves. It just sits there, watching people walk in and out of frames. Sometimes the silence in the room lasts way longer than it needs to. It makes you realize how much we rely on quick cuts nowadays.

Final thoughts (or lack thereof)

I didn't walk away with any deep life lessons. It’s just a weird, shiny, slightly cracked mirror into how they used to tell stories. If you want something that doesn't feel like a modern, soulless product, maybe give it a spin. Just don't blame me if you get bored during the third act.

It’s not quite as weird as The Guyra Ghost Mystery, but it has a charm that's hard to pin down. Or maybe I just really liked the hats. 🎩