Did Malle actually run over a living skunk? Looking at the editing, it seems that the animal was not run over; that a carcass was substituted at the moment of impact but I am not sure and there's no info about this moment in any reviews.
shareIwas thinking that as I covered my eyes for the time the car approached and a short while after so I saw nothing of the carnage if any ? I was sure its a badger sniffing round the road too.
Mad,Bad And Dangerous To Know...
It was a badger. And I think they show the body with the head severed, but I'm pretty sure it's fake.
shareI also thought it was a badger, not a skunk. I doubt a real badger was run over. It's all in the editing.
shareIt seemed real to me. I didn't notice any edit or cut. I hope it wasn't real, but regarding a French film from 1975 I don't doubt that it could have been.
"Passion is just insanity in a cashmere sweater!"
The Criterion print of this film makes it very easy to see what they did. The animal at the beginning WAS a badger and it was NOT run over. The driver of the car does an excellent job of driving very closely past the side of the badger (remember a skilled driver was also needed for all the off road forest driving in the film) and there is a definite cut at that moment. It changes to a closer shot with a more downwards pointed camera angle, and its very clear at that point to see that it's a dummy. Hope this puts some people's minds at ease. :)
shareThank you for clearing this up.
sharebadger
was cut before hit
also, quite a tough shot to have a badger rummaging around for a few minutes, have a car race in and hit the approximate area the badger was in.
however, art and craft aside... I wish I knew what the f it meant.