Introducing... Mixed Fruits

Closing out the year whilst launching my substack: a round-up of my favorite watches of 2024

Welcome to Mixed Fruits, a space for me to mostly curate and share from my personal archive of film stills.¹ For a long time *instagram* was my preferred outlet to showcase images from what I’ve been watching at home but we (as in me) don’t love it there lol so come along won’t you as I try something new!

On the eve of the new year I found it appropriate to present a list of 12 movies I streamed² in 2024 that left an impression on me. Just a few shots and words for each film in this inaugural post as I’m sure many of them I will feel the need to show and tell even more in their own dedicated posts.

Presented in no particular order except for the first, which I watched the most recently and can’t stop thinking about. Some common threads seem to run throughout — namely, they are overwhelmingly French (oops) with tinges of the melancholy and/or morbid. Sorry if you are looking for something feel-good ♡

1. The Lacemaker (1977) dir. Claude Goretta

   

   

   

   And this is why we put respect on Isabelle Huppert’s name. She has been devastating us on screen for 50 years. Her performance of the shy, inscrutable Béatrice is moving and perfect. I have so much more to say and share about this soon.
   
   

2. Love on the Ground (1984) dir. Jacques Rivette

   

   

   

   I adore Rivette and have been steadily working my way through his whole filmography. So many of the quintessential Rivette elements are here - female leads plunged into realms of mystery, magic and paranoia, the volleys and echoes between theatre and “reality”... The set design in this one deserves its own post as most of the film is set in an eccentric playwright’s bonkers postmodern mansion.
   
   

3. The Strangler (1970) dir. Paul Vecchiali

   

   

   

   A weird little french giallo steeped in a more sincere sense of sadness and pathos than I find in the traditional Italian genre. The psychosexual motivations of the characters feel very distinctly French lol.
   
   

4. The Deep End (2001) dir. David Siegel & Scott McGehee

   

   

   

   A surprisingly poignant thriller meets melodrama that is grounded by Tilda Swinton and Goran Visnjic’s performances. It made me feel things 💧
   
   

5. The Aviator's Wife (1981) dir. Éric Rohmer

   

   

   

   Classic bittersweet, romantic Rohmer! J’adore Anne-Laure Meury as the charismatic teenage gamine and wish she had been in more asides from her few appearances in the RCU³.
   
   

6. Morvern Callar (2002) dir. Lynne Ramsay

   

   

   

   Sad, weird and beautiful with Samantha Morton as a protagonist of questionable ethics who you can’t help but root for. I’m obsessed with the final scene.

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Well folks, the length of going through the first six of the list feels like enough for one post so it looks like I will be splitting the dozen into two. I’ll see you in the new year with the final six recommendations from my 2024 watches.

xo Mona

1. But also (!) I wouldn’t call it a “film blog” per se. Down the line I’ll likely expand into other media and realms of personal interest I feel are worth sharing (which is a long-winded way of saying that this is a work in progress and maybe just a moodboard of anything that’s caught my attention lately).

2. A note about where to watch: Love on the Ground and The Aviator’s Wife can be found on Kanopy. The Strangler, The Deep End and Morvern Callar were all previously on the Criterion Channel but have since been pulled. I recommend websites like justwatch and reelgood to look up which streaming services if any carry the films you are interested in. As far as I know, there are no online streams available of The Lacemaker with english subtitles. If you speak French, it is available for free on The Internet Archive.

3. Rohmer Cinematic Universe 😅