In the daily newspaper Libération, Louis Skorecki wrote this about the “reedy perfection” of Rouge-gorge: “Basically, Zucca is a sort of French Tourneur. The more he blends into the landscape, the higher his ambitions. He created a kind of philosophy equivalent to that of Hollywood B movies, a mannerist manner for making himself anonymous while inventing unusual poses, somewhere between salon literature and precious painting. A maniac for detail and for true declamation, he sought to bring together his characters’ art of lying with that of his actors, halfway between the scansions of Michel Bouquet and those of Fabrice Luchini, his two favorite performers, who superbly define his cheerful territory. He still walks there in a dream, volatile scholar of a chamber cinema that repeats endlessly, like the scratched record of a much-loved singer.” Perhaps I did Mods just because of this last sentence.

—Serge Bozon