True and False Conversion: My Night at Maud’s (1969) w/ Matthew Schmitz
By Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 20, 2021 | In Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
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Jean-Louis, 34-year-old Catholic engineer, lives a quiet life studying mathematics and reading Pascal. One day, he sees a beautiful girl, Francoise, at Mass and decides he will marry her. But this pursuit is interrupted when he spends the night before Christmas at the apartment of a seductive divorcee, the atheist Maud, who tests his moral code.
First Things senior editor Matthew Schmitz joins the podcast to discuss Catholic director Eric Rohmer’s highly influential 1969 breakout film. My Night at Maud’s is the fourth entry in Rohmer’s series Six Moral Tales.
Extensive moral dialogues have never been so masterfully directed and acted; the film is fully entertaining though packed with ideas. Is Catholicism just a moral code or something more? Is sainthood for everyone? How do we recognize God’s grace in the chance happenings of life? What is true conversion?
Links
Matthew Schmitz on Rohmer, “The Anti-Romantic” https://www.firstthings.com/article/2020/10/the-anti-romantic
Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/
Criteria is hosted by Thomas V. Mirus and James T. Majewski.
Thomas is Director of Podcasts for CatholicCulture.org and hosts the Catholic Culture Podcast. See full bio.
James is the Director of Customer Relations for CatholicCulture.org as well as the host and narrator for Catholic Culture Audiobooks. See full bio.
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