La moustache

Marc and Agnes are an attractive, successful Parisian couple, who have been together for many years. One evening, before joining friends for dinner, Marc decides on a whim to shave off the mustache he's worn all of his adult life. He waits patiently for his wife's reaction, but neither she nor his friends seem to notice. Stranger still, when he finally tells them, they all insist he never had a mustache. Is Marc going mad? Is he the victim of some elaborate conspiracy? Or has something in the world's order gone terribly awry? Adapted from his own novel, Emmanuel Carrère has crafted an engrossing existential thriller, a story about a man who inadvertently loses himself.

"A paranoid thriller in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock." ~ Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

"...recalls Hitchcock's cat-and-mouse romantic thrillers. Sexy... sophisticated... darkly witty. Carrère's psychological mystery is a surreal reflection on perception, reality and memory." *Critic's Pick* ~ Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"Enigmatic and fascinating." ~ John Anderson, New York Newsday

"Chilling. Profound. Emmanuel Carrére's LA MOUSTACHE is a mini-masterwork!" ~ Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

"A feast of sustained tension." ~ Lisa Nesselson, Variety

"A Hitchcock thriller filtered through the mind of Austrian firebrand Michael Haneke." ~ V.A. Musetto, New York Post

"An elegant suspense yarn... an absorbing and provocative thriller." ~ Sheri Linden, Box Office Magazine

"...as if Antonioni had suddenly picked up a movie started by Hitchcock..." *Critic's Pick* ~ Elisabeth Vincentelli, Time Out New York

LA MOUSTACHE is Emmanuel Carrère's first fiction film. It is adapted from his own novel of the same name, published in the US by Picador.

LA MOUSTACHE premiered in Director's Fortnight at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Cinema Europa award. It was also the recipient of the Fipresci Prize at the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival.