I was shocked when I found out that the short film, “Emilie Muller” was rated 8.4 out of 10 on IMDB - the Internet Movie Database website - which documents the films data on the internet and provides films ratings by sharing the average audience rating for the film on the website; for someone who loves films like me, I thought it logical for the film to be rated a full 10, for being different and philosophical, and also for its plot.
"Emilie Muller" was produced in 1994, directed and written by Yvonne Marciano, while the leading role is played by actress Veronica Varga. The film is in black and white, with the duration of 19 minutes and 55 seconds, and it is in French. The film, by French makers, is shown in a different way than films that were released in the colourful nineties, whether short or long.
It tells the story of auditions for a female role in some film. It starts with Emilie Muller’s audition in which she tries to start her acting career and seize this opportunity. The director asks her to bring her bag to tell him what’s inside it, upon which the bag’s contents turns to be the basis of the film’s dialogue and plot; Emilie talks about each item in the bag with feeling and unique emotions, and the audition in the film turns into a different experience from the standard stereotypical of auditions.
One of my dear friends sent me a message on WhatsApp recommending the film in 2020, so that I watch it and tell him my opinion. I was surprised by his fascination with the film, yet after watching it I adopted the same fascination, so I chose it for the script subject while studying at the Faculty of Arts, in my last year in Theatre Department 2024.
For four years, Emilie Muller remained in my favourite films’ list, which I rewatch to discover new details and use these feelings of amazement in my Drama training. The idea kept recurring in my mind, urging me to rewatch the film, thinking that it would be one of my future projects, but I did not know whether it would be a study or a critical project related to reviewing that experience.
Sometimes, when Emilie is silent or thinking, she looks away, to be the only moving element in the shot, the frame and picture dimensions- the film has all the elements of boredom, those that filmmakers know as a rule not to use them and ruin their films, yet Marciano broke this rule adding the elements of boredom in the film to achieve success, and it was considered one of the strength points of the film.
Even the attempts to break this boredom, they were attempts emerging from the heart of the story, such as the director interrupting Emilie asking her questions.
Among these elements is the single “frame” fixed on Emilie, and the use of black and white. These 19 minutes and 55 seconds visual elements are considered a risk on the part of the filmmaker, but it was a successful risk. It made this frame a famous visual mark for the film. If you look “Emilie Muller” on Google, this frame will pop up as the first search results. This is one of the measures of the success of this challenge, leading the film to win 12 awards from 12 festivals around the world.
The film's dialogue was not an artistic form favourable to critics and filmmakers, as it came in the form of a question and answer between the director and Emilie, just like a silly ping pong game, however, the viewer is overwhelmed with the curiosity towards the contents of the bag chasing away boredom, even before it occurs, making it an attractive element balancing these cinematic risks.
The ending was not expected by all means, it is what is called “plot twist” – meaning a surprising ending-, it was a lesson in acting. The film ends with Emilie leaving her bag on a distant hanger, then someone comes and asks for the owner of the bag, one of the crew tells him it is Emilie’s and the director chases Emilie, and it wasn’t an ordinary chase, for he managed to find the perfect actress for the role and he doesn’t want to miss her, all this because Emilie’s bag contents wrote her the happy ending she wished for.
