An experimental film from Éric Baudelaire that combines documentary and fiction, A Flower in the Mouth is a melancholic and philosophical exploration of our connection to flowers and the meaning of life.
Written by Baudelaire and Anne-Louise Trividic, the film is loosely adapted from Luigi Pirandello’s 1923 play, “The Man with a Flower in his Mouth.” However, the film expands beyond the original material to include a documentary portion of the film.
A Flower in the Mouth begins with fiction as we watch a man (Oxmo Puccino) observing an employee through a store window as she wraps a gift with extreme precision, neatly folding the wrapping paper along tight lines. The man then continues strolling along the streets of Paris. It’s our introduction to the importance of observation in the film.
The film shifts to the Netherlands and into documentary mode. In keeping with the theme around observation, there is no dialogue as we witness employees at work in a large flower market. Written on the employees’ orange vests is “Royal Flora Holland,” which is a Dutch conglomerate of florists and one of the largest auction companies in the world.
We watch the process of flowers being meticulously prepped and loaded for sale, both manually and via machine. A woman carefully prunes flowers, removing any dead or wilting petals, and makes notes on a computer. Another employee places flowers into a machine that automatically wraps them into bouquets in swift succession. A lecture room is full of men on computers as they track inventory, place orders and monitor the online auction at a rapid pace.
Flowers are typically symbols of joy and love, enjoyed on special occasions or simply to brighten one’s day. They connect people through the meaningful acts of giving and receiving. Here, however, they are framed in an industrialized manner, a perspective most of us are unfamiliar with and which is oddly cold and disconnected from their usual purpose.
As we shift back to Paris and the fictional remainder of the film, we reconnect with the observant man. He has no name and is simply referred to in the credits as “the man with a flower.” At a small, empty bar he frequents, he ends up meeting a young man (Dali Benssalah) who arrives after missing the last train of the night. The young man is simply known as “the customer.” The protagonist, our flower-mouthed man, strikes up a conversation with the customer, although it’s really a theatrical monologue. The protagonist explains in depth his passion for observing other people and theorizing about their stories, their lives.
The protagonist’s lengthy monologue involves a philosophical exploration of the meaning of life, and while it prompts some intriguing contemplation, at times it is simply too much. He becomes repetitive, and for all he highlights the importance of “seeing” other people and paying attention to the details of their lives, he doesn’t really listen to his drinking companion or make room for him in the conversation when the poor guy tries to contribute. Instead, the protagonist seems much more interested in himself and his own philosophical observations. He even states that watching the lives of others gives him no pleasure, that he doesn’t even like it; evidently, what gives him great pleasure is talking about it.
However, we also empathize with him as the film takes a darker turn and he reveals (spoiler alert) that he has a terminal illness. Any day could be his last. The connection to flowers is a melancholic one, as the titular flower in his mouth is a metaphorical reference to a cancerous tumour. Suddenly, we understand his need to keep busy and keep moving, and it becomes clear that his obsession with observing others through the minutia of daily activity is his way of coping and staying connected with life.
A Flower in the Mouth had its world premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.