Louis Malle Movies
One of France's most renowned directors, Louis Malle first gained recognition as a member of his country's New Wave movement of the 1950s. He went on to direct films of great breadth and variety, consciously avoiding the temptation to repeat himself. Many of Malle's films tended to be very personal affairs that focused on some form of societal exclusion, and on more than one occasion he rejected opportunities to work in Hollywood so as to have more time to lavish greater attention on his individual projects. His efforts paid off: By the time of his death from cancer in 1995, Malle was hailed for his invaluable contributions to both French and world cinema.Born into great wealth, Malle had the advantages of an expensive college education, which started in the study of Political Science but ended up with filmmaking classes. A protégé of underwater photographer/director Jacques-Yves Cousteau, he received his first director's credit on Cousteau's The Silent World (1956), which served to introduce both men to the international film scene. After working as an assistant to cult-favorite director Robert Bresson, Malle made his first solo film, the award-winning Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud/Frantic (1957), a mystery-melodrama in the Diabolique mold and distinguished by an improvisational Miles Davis music score and powerful performance by Jeanne Moreau.
With Les Amants/The Lovers (1959), Malle gained notoriety for staging what were then considered graphic sex scenes, pushing the boundaries of American censorship. Fortunately, the film's underlying message -- an attack on French class consciousness -- was appreciated by a number of film critics who managed to look beyond the sensation surrounding the film, for which the director won several festival awards. His next effort, Zazie Dans Le Metro (1960), was as harmless as his previous film had been controversial; a gleefully impertinent comedy, it told the story of a young girl who runs away from her relatives and the chaos created by her flight.
Malle once again raised eyebrows in America with 1962's La Vie Privée/A Very Private Affair, a Brigitte Bardot vehicle allegedly based upon the actress' own life. The more serious international critics were impressed by his next film, Le Feu Follet/The Fire Within (1963), the alternately repellent and fascinating account of the last days in the life of an alcoholic (played by Maurice Ronet). As with Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud, Le Feu was enhanced by a strong music score, composed in this case by Erik Satie. More controversy came the director's way with his 1969 documentary L'Inde Fantome/Phantom India, which caused the Indian government to lodge a complaint against Malle's unblinking look at the country's appalling poverty. Le Souffle au Coeur/Murmur of the Heart (1971), an Italian-German co-production, was a gentle comedy about the subject of incest and family values, while Lacombe Lucien (1974) was a dissection of France under Nazi occupation; both films, however, tended to solidify Malle's reputation as a "sex" director in the eyes of those who couldn't see beyond this element.
Sex was a theme once again in Pretty Baby (1978), Malle's first American film, in which Brooke Shields (in her first important role) played a 12-year-old New Orleans prostitute. The film stirred up the would-be censors of the world, but the fuss was truly unnecessary; the film was more atmospheric than erotic, eschewing graphic depiction for thought-provoking insights on the nature of desire. Malle's next effort, Atlantic City (1980) was widely hailed as his best American film, featuring topnotch performances from Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon. What might have become a seamy look at American subculture in lesser hands became a life-affirming romance, making an unlikely hero out of an erstwhile drug courier. The film won numerous international honors, including a British Academy Award for Best Direction for Malle. Similarly acclaimed was My Dinner with André (1982), a filmed dialogue between experimental theater director André Gregory and actor/playwright Wallace Shawn; a testament to Malle's skill as a director, the film managed to be absorbing enough to hold audiences for what was essentially a 90-minute conversation.
Malle subsequently received some of the greatest acclaim of his career with Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987). Based upon his own experience as a young boy in Nazi-occupied France, the film was a cathartic portrait of courage, betrayal, and the horrible effects of anti-Semitism. It won numerous international awards, including three French Césars -- for Best Film, Director, and Screenplay -- and was praised for its unsentimental depiction of unlikely friendship and lost innocence. Commuting between Europe and the U.S. during the last few years of his life (often in the company of his third wife, actress Candice Bergen), Malle continued to offer works of great visual beauty and muted social observation, with May Fools (1989) and the controversial Damage (1992) keeping him in the international spotlight. He directed his last film in 1994; a triumphant, unorthodox adaptation of Chekov's play as directed by previous collaborator André Gregory, Vanya on 42nd Street was a radiant end to Malle's long and distinguished career. He died of cancer on November 23, 1995, survived by wife Bergen and their daughter Chloe. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Henry Jaglom is a filmmaker who was a pioneer of the independent film movement long before it had a name. Jaglom began his Hollywood career in the mid-Sixties as an actor, but in 1971 he wrote and directed his first feature film, A Safe Place, which starred his friends Orson Welles and Jack Nicholson; it was an offbeat, personal work which received mixed reviews, setting a standard that many of Jaglom's future works would follow. After A Safe Place bombed at the box office, Jaglom began making films on tiny budgets which he often released himself, allowing his actors plenty of room to improvise and often dealing with women's issues in an intense and emotionally compelling manner. Jaglom has a significant cult of admirers, and a number of notable actors work with him at a fraction of their usual salaries, but his eccentricity and knack for self-promotion has rubbed a few people in the movie business the wrong way, and while some critics regard him as a singular talent, others consider him an overbearing con artist. Both Jaglom's supporters and detractors get a chance to air their opinions in Who Is Henry Jaglom?, a documentary about the filmmaker which offers a look at his movies, his life before and behind the camera, and the actors and craftspeople who've worked with him and have their own stories to tell. Jaglom himself is also extensively interviewed, and contributes a wealth of footage from his archives. Who Is Henry Jaglom? includes interviews with Candice Bergen, Karen Black, Dennis Hopper, Andrea Marcovici, Sally Kellerman, Martha Plimpton and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
In the late 1980s, noted theatrical director Andre Gregory assembled a group of friends and actors and began rehearsing a new translation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya by David Mamet, not with any specific performance in mind but as a way of exploring the beauty and precise construction of Chekhov's play. Louis Malle, a friend of Gregory's, became interested in the project and spent two weeks filming Gregory's actors as they performed Uncle Vanya without an audience in a run-down theater near New York's Times Square. In these performances, the line between theater and real life is blurred as conversations between actors -- juggling take-out cups of coffee and wearing street clothes -- slowly grow into a superb performance of Chekhov's classic, with Wallace Shawn as Vanya, Julianne Moore as Yelena, Brooke Smith as Sonya, and Larry Pine as Dr. Astrov. With a certain sad irony, this marvelously realized adaptation of a play about people wondering what they've done with their lives proved to be Louis Malle's final film; he died of cancer in 1995. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wallace Shawn, Larry Pine, (more)
- 1994
Murphy (Candice Bergen) defies network policy to accept a role in a film directed by Louis Malle (then the real-life husband of star Bergen, playing "himself") No sooner has she stepped on the set, however, than Murphy goes into full "diva" mode, insisting upon script changes so that she will be able to maintain her image as a serious journalist. Garry Marshall makes his first appearance as new network president Stan Lansing. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1993
Filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894-1979) had an extremely long career writing, directing, producing and acting in films, beginning in the silent era, right up until the time of his death, when most of his productions were influenced by the medium of television. He was one of the sons of the famous Impressionist painter August Renoir. This two part documentary was filmed to be released on British television in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of his birth. His influence on French filmmaking in particular was so great that he was sometimes referred to as le patron (which, among other things, means "the boss"), and no further identification was needed. The majority of his more noteworthy films were produced in the 1930s, and the film most people consider to have been his masterpiece, La Règle du Jeu or The Rules of the Game was so scathing in its criticism of 1939 French society that it provoked an outcry and he withdrew it from circulation, only releasing it again after his return to France some years after the Second World War. The documentary makers have coaxed Renoir's son to be interviewed, along with as many surviving contemporaries as could be found. In addition to numerous film clips, the documentary is fleshed out with interviews with more contemporary figures who discuss his importance in the history of cinema. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bernardo Bertolucci
- 1992
This is a well-regarded contemporary dramatic retelling of the story most familiar to audiences from Puccini's great opera La Bohème and was made by the noted Finnish film director Aki Kaurismaki. Like the opera, it is based on the novel Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. Despite their ever-present poverty, which poses a constant threat to their continued existence, the artists and their friends in this movie speak in only the most polite, elegant, and genteel manner, which only serves to underscore their desperate situation. In the story, the poet Marcel has been unable to come up with the rent for his barely tolerable room and has been evicted from it. While wandering in his neighborhood, he catches the eye of Rodolfo, an Albanian immigrant eating in a small cafe, who waves him over and invites him to share his dinner. Though they have never met, they are soon deeply involved in a discussion about art. They leave the restaurant together and, for want of a better idea, wander back to Marcel's former room. There the poet and his new friend, the painter Rodolfo, discover an equally congenial companion in the man who just rented his room, Schaumard, an Irish composer. Just one step away from starvation most of the time, these loyal friends share resources to help one another out. On one occasion, Marcel needs a suit for a job interview and is able to borrow one from one of Rodolfo's portrait sitters long enough to be interviewed and get a paid job. With his earnings from his new editing job, Marcel buys Schaumard a car he needs. On the job, Marcel meets poor provincial girl Musette, whom he falls for, and at the same time Rodolfo finds another poor provincial girl, Mimi, on his doorstep. He quickly comes to love Mimi, but circumstances constantly thwart their being together, until he at last succeeds in making a place for them and she dies in his arms. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matti Pellonpää, Evelyne Didi, (more)
Adapted from Josephine Hart's spare novel by British screenwriter David Hare and French director Louis Malle, this brooding erotic drama concerns the obsessive sexual relationship between an English politician and his son's lover. Stephen Flemming (Jeremy Irons), an up-and-coming member of Parliament, has a beautiful and loving wife, Ingrid (Miranda Richardson), and two children, including son Martyn (Rupert Graves), a successsful journalist. Sparks fly, however, when Stephen meets beautiful art-world denizen Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche), Martyn's new girlfriend. A measured, seemingly passionless man who believes that life can be controlled, Stephen suddenly finds himself unable to resist brief but intense liaisons with the mysterious, melancholy Anna. Eventually she explains the palpable air of sadness that hangs over her: When she was 15, her beloved older brother committed suicide because he could not possess her. "Remember," Anna warns Stephen, "Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive." Drawn to Anna and the passion she engenders in him, Stephen tries to justify his betrayal by telling himself Martyn isn't serious about Anna; he is stunned, then, when the two announce their engagement. On the advice of Anna's mother (Leslie Caron), who sees right through the charade, Stephen tries to break things off. But soon the affair resumes with full force, eventually destroying several lives. Although Damage's stark, frank sex scenes were trimmed to attain an R rating for theatrical release, the original, uncut version is available on video and DVD. Richardson received an Oscar nomination for her work. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, (more)
- 1990
- R
This comic excursion from Louis Malle is set in May 1968, concurrent with a series of Parisian student uprisings. After the death of family matriarch Mme. Vieuzac (Paulette Dubost), the survivors converge on the French countryside for her funeral; they include her two sons, Milou (Michel Piccoli) and Georges (Michel Duchaussoy); Camille (Miou-Miou), Milou's daughter; Camille's husband and children; and granddaughter Claire (Dominique Blanc), a lesbian. With the latest news of rebellion from Paris as their soundtrack, the family members argue over property, revive long-simmering arguments, and watch in dismay as an unlikely love affair begins. When the student uprising threatens to spill over into their community, the family heads for the hills, where the great outdoors only intensifies their reunion. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, (more)
- 1987
- PG
Gaspard Manesse plays Julien, an 11-year-old Catholic boarding-school resident during the Nazi occupation of France. He is witness to the courage of his instructors, who defy the German's anti-Semitic policies and quietly enroll Jewish children into the school under assumed names. Manesse befriends Jean (Raphael Fejto), one of these "instant Catholics." The refugee children are betrayed by a hostile ex-employee of the school, forcing Julien once more to be a bystander to history as Jean and the teachers are arrested. For this return to the French film industry after several years in the US, Louis Malle purged himself of his own bitter memories of life under the thumbs of the Nazis. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gaspard Manesse, Raphaël Fejtö, (more)
- 1986
For a period of about three months, celebrated French director Louis Malle grabbed his camera and took a tour of immigrant communities and individual refugees across the United States. The results are fun to watch as they are peppered liberally with good humor. When Cambodian refugees come into America with bags of rice, the narration notes that "for the Cambodians, rice is survival, for the immigration officers, it is microbes." Several success stories are seen and in some ways the documentary is weighted in that direction. A West Ghanan makes good with a taxi company he started, a Korean applies to several top ten universities, and in a political flub of the worst kind, the mansion of exiled General Somoza from Nicaragua is shown with the comment that the infamous General is "becoming a regular suburbanite." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- 1985
- R
Director Louis Malle scrutinizes modern-day racism in Alamo Bay. The scene is the Texas coast, where local fishermen resent the "intrusion" of Vietnam refugees. Fair-minded shrimp supplier Wally (Donald Moffat) hires several Vietnamese workers, which serves to further infuriate the locals. The most vociferous of Moffat's opponents is a fisherman, Shang (Ed Harris), who faces bankruptcy due to loss of business. A town meeting designed to settle the issue erupts into violence when Vietnamese emigre Dinh (Ho Nguyen) accuses some of the locals of bending the law for their own purposes. A desperate Shang asks his former lover Glory (Amy Madigan) for financial aid, a delicate situation in that she is Wally's daughter. When the Ku Klux Klan arrives on the scene to drive the Vietnamese out, Glory sides with the refugees, resulting in strong friendship between herself and Dinh. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Amy Madigan, Ed Harris, (more)
- 1985
Louis Malle's heartwarming and thoughtful 1986 PBS documentary God's Country carries the viewer to Glencoe, MN, for a loving and enduring portrait of the local citizenry. It's a time capsule -- a snapshot of the prairie heartlands during the late '70s and mid-'80s (Malle shot the first segment in 1979, and returned six years later to film the conclusion). The first half is sweet, gentle, and lyrical, the second half heartbreaking, for by the time of Malle's return, the optimistic small-parcel farmers whom Malle introduces at the outset have been wiped out by the Reagan-era recession. (One or two even bigotedly attempt to use minorities as scapegoats for the economic devastation they have suffered -- which makes for a sobering, jarring, and utterly unexpected wrap-up to the piece.) Malle's strategy is to simply tour the town and meet the locals, cameras rolling, never knowing what to expect. And what in other hands might become mundane or dull here gains a sweet and genteel intimacy, laced with small doses of offhanded humor and poignant insight into the lives of these people; Malle's goal involves making viewers feel, by the end of the documentary, that they have become an integral part of this community -- and that the participants (despite scattered objectionable attitudes) are their friends and neighbors. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- 1984
The film style of Robert Bresson is the subject of this documentary tribute to the French director and screenwriter, and to his minimalist auteur films about sensitive individuals (or even animals) trying unsuccessfully to survive in a cruel world. Weg Naar Bresson is divided into several segments with specific themes, such as "camera" or "theory," that are illustrated by film clips, and interviews with Bresson himself (a coup), and also with acclaimed directors Andrei Tarkovsky, Louis Malle, and Paul Schrader (who also wrote a book on three directors, including Bresson). The knowledge and experience revealed in each interview, and the examples of the film clips are clear indicators that the 54-minute running time of this documentary is too short, and should have been extended to do full justice to Bresson and his films. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Bresson, Louis Malle, (more)
- 1984
- PG
A remake of Pigeon by Mario Monicelli, but set on the streets of San Francisco in a contemporary America instead of Italy in the '50s, this comedy about a conspiratorial heist of a greedy pawnbroker has excellent acting and good light fun but not much in the way of character motivation. Weslake (Donald Sutherland) is unemployed and has reason to frequent the pawnshop of his money-hungry friend Garvey (Jack Warden). People come and go around the shop (almost the only setting for the action): an aspiring musician of sorts (Sean Penn), the eccentric meter-maid Maxine (Christine Baranski), a safe-cracker (Irwin Corey), and others. Then one day Weslake gets the idea to break into Garvey's safe and make off with a few valuables just for the fun of it. Everyone agrees, and the plot goes on unhindered by motivation or ethics. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, (more)
- 1982
- Add Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter to Queue Add Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter to top of Queue
At the beginning of this documentary on early cinematographer Edwin S. Porter (1869-1941), director Charles Musser gives some background on the "nickelodeons" or theaters that charged a nickel as an entrance fee, and their early (presumably cheaper) predecessors. The men who set up the programs at the nickelodeons -- including Porter at times -- arranged film clips and still slides to create about a half-hour's worth of entertainment -- they were the first film editors. By 1907, eager U.S. movie-goers were investing one million nickels per day for these shows. Edwin S. Porter was active between 1886-1915 and he is still well-known for his 1903 Great Train Robbery, the world's first narrative film, all of 12 minutes long. (It should be noted that Porter's filmography after he lost his position as head of production in Thomas Edison's studio in 1908 is not included in this documentary.) Porter worked first with multi-shot sequences as early as 1901 ("The Execution of Czolgosz" on the assassination of President McKinley, using documentary footage and a staged dramatization), running through one (small) spool of film for one sequence, and another for an additional sequence, usually from another angle or of another scene. Instead of an editor at a nickelodeon putting together two film sequences, Porter was doing the sequencing as the cinematographer. Taking this idea one step further, he pioneered "overlapping continuity," as in his landmark 1902 Life of an American Fireman. In this example of the technique, he put cameras inside and outside a burning building, and in his completed film, he first showed a rescue sequence from the inside, followed by the same sequence from the outside. In the 1930s when that film was recut with methods developed by Porter's most well-known immediate successor, David Wark Griffith, the "Fireman" film was shown with alternating interior-exterior views, from the start of the rescue to the end. Director Charles Musser comments on this later style, saying that in Porter's early years, audiences were not yet visually sophisticated enough to understand the technique of multiple, simultaneous perspectives. (At the same time, other critics maintain that Porter himself intercut the scenes.) Another pioneer in a visual medium, Pablo Picasso came of age artistically during the development of these cinematic techniques, and it is curious that his own style of showing multiple, simultaneous viewpoints of a figure in one image parallels the cinematic visions emerging first with Edwin Porter and then with D.W. Griffith. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jay Leyda
A extended conversation between two old friends over dinner proves an unexpectedly fascinating subject for a film in the critically acclaimed My Dinner with André. The talkers in question are André Gregory, a renowned experimental theater director, and playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, both of whom play themselves. The film is not a documentary, but a condensation of several real discussions fashioned into a dramatic exchange by Shawn and director Louis Malle. The subtle conflict stems from the differences in the men's characters: Gregory is an inquisitive, uninhibited wanderer, willing to travel to remote lands to take part in unusual foreign rituals, while Shawn is the cynical, realistic New Yorker, more concerned with the challenges and rewards of day-to-day city life. Malle approaches their philosophical yet playful back-and-forth with a straightforward, minimal style that only rarely wanders outside its restaurant setting. The focus therefore falls on Shawn's and Gregory's contrasting verbal styles and facial expressions, highlighting conversational nuances normally lost on film. While the idea of watching any conversation for over 90 minutes, no matter how fascinating, may turn off some viewers, enough audiences have supported the film to make it an art-house classic. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, (more)
Burt Lancaster stars as Lou, an aging mob flunkey, barely making a living in Atlantic City. Susan Sarandon plays Sally, a casino croupier whose husband Dave (Robert Joy) steals a large supply of drugs from the mob. When he is killed, the narcotics pass to the unwilling Sally. Lou, in the midst of longtime affair with middle-aged gangster's widow Grace (Kate Reid), falls for the much younger Sally, becoming her savior by killing the mob thugs sent to shut her up. The killings serve a therapeutic value for Lou, proving that he hasn't lost his old panache. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, (more)
After making a series of acclaimed and controversial films in his native France, director Louis Malle made his American debut with this disturbing but visually beautiful story about Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a prostitute working in New Orleans' Storyville district at the turn of the century. When Hattie becomes pregnant, she opts to keep her baby and gives birth to a daughter named Violet, raising her in the brothel where she continues to work. Twelve years later, Violet (Brooke Shields) is old enough to attract the attentions of the brothel's customers, but emotionally has one foot in the adult world of her surroundings and the other in the naïveté of childhood. With Hattie's consent, Violet's virginity is auctioned off to the customers of the house; but for Violet, the pull between childhood and adulthood becomes most clear -- and most painful -- when she draws the affections of Bellocq (Keith Carradine), a photographer who has been working on a photo series about Storyville prostitutes. Violet's blend of childlike innocence and adult sensuality is profoundly attractive to him, but their relationship quickly becomes problematic, especially when Hattie leaves Violet behind to get married. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, (more)
In Louis Malle's apocalyptic fantasy Black Moon, Lily (Cathryn Harrison, granddaughter of Rex) drives down a lonesome road, and soon finds herself in a alternate world full of non sequiturs and bizarre characters. At times, this looks like a David Lynch film, what with an old woman conversing with a rat, a pack of naked children chasing a pig, a talking unicorn, a strange set of possibly incestuous siblings (one of whom is "underground" film star Joe Dallesandro), and several other warped set pieces. Malle reportedly culled inspiration for the narrative of this film from his own dreams. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse, (more)
- 1974
- R
With a superb music score by Django Reinhardt, this is a Louis Malle film about the German occupation of France. Based on his own experiences in France during the occupation, Malle's film does not paint a pretty picture of the French Resistance and eventually he emigrated to America because of the critical reaction to this film. Essentially the tale of a young boy who wants to join the Resistance but is shunned by them because of his youth, he joins the Gestapo. Unfortunately, he then falls in love with a young Jewish girl. Push comes to shove and he suddenly has the unsympathetic Resistance and the Gestapo hot on his trail. Not a pretty picture of either side. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clément, (more)
- 1974
Louis Malle shot the 75-minute documentary Humain, trop Humain (produced 1972, released 1974) at the end of a rare creative dry spell in his life - in between the fictional masterworks Souffle au cœur (1971) and Lacombe Lucien. Malle and his two-person crew (Jean-Claude Laureux and Etienne Becker) travel out to the Citroen auto plant in Brittany, France, cameras-in-tow, and shoot three tangentially-related sequences. In the first third of the picture, Malle observes the mechanical nature of the assembly line process, following the construction of an automobile from a flattened piece of metal to a finished product. He overlays choral music on the soundtrack, painting the step-by-step linearity of the events in a satirical light. In the second sequence, Malle and his crew travel to an automobile showroom, where customers babble on and on about nothing in particular, making banal small-talk for a seemingly endless period of time. And in the last third of the picture, Malle and co. return to the assembly line. Here, the director deliberately places an obscene emphasis on watching the assembly line workers toil, attempting in the process to physically exhaust the viewer with the repetitive, laborious onscreen movement of the men and the machinery. This film serves as an unofficial companion piece to the documentary Place de la Republique. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- 1974
For the minor feature-length documentary Place de la Republique (produced 1972, released 1974), Louis Malle and his mini-crew (Jean-Claude Laureux, Etienne Becker and Fernand Mozskowicz) travel to the Place de la Republique in Paris during the autumn of 1972 and utilize a "man on the street" approach, filming various passersby and asking them random questions about their lives, their experiences and their feelings. At one point about 2/3 of the way through the film, a pretty girl who starts off as one of the subjects takes Malle's camera and conducts the interviews herself. Place acts as a kind of companion film to the director's Humain, trop Humain; both are cinema direct works, but only in Humain does the director utilize a schematic editorial structure. Though Suzanne Baron edited Place, here Malle generally resists imposing any kind of an editorial vision and simply films what he comes across, letting the events unfold before him. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- 1971
- R
Told with fondness and precision, and set in France at the time of the IndoChina War (which later became an American problem known as the Vietnam War), this controversial feature handles teen coming-of-age, sexuality and even incest with a gentleness that disappointed the prurient and shocked the conservative. This is one of director Louis Malle's finest films: others include The Fire Within and Au Revoir Les Enfants. Laurent (Benoit Ferreux) is 14 years old and anxious to lose his virginity. However, he has a very close family circle, and, between the family and school, he is too closely watched to get anywhere. He makes the most of an opportunity to neck with the girls at his older brothers' party and later almost gets to lose his virginity in a bordello, but his boisterously drunken brothers interrupt him. His real opportunity arises while his mother takes him for a rest-cure for his heart murmur at a very conventional spa. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lea Massari, Daniel Gélin, (more)
- 1969
- R
Also known as La Fiancée du Pirate and Dirty Mary, this French comedy noir stars Bernadette Lafont as Marie, the title character. Early in the game, Marie learns how to use sex as a means to an end. She enjoys the favors of several of her town's leading citizens, not-too-subtly suggesting that her silence can be bought. Nearly driven out of town by the local moral arbiters, Marie strikes a blow against hypocrisy with a deliciously creative revenge. A Very Curious Girl is the sort of harmless French fare that used to pop up on your local Late Late Late Show in-between the Vegomatic ads and the "Live Better Electrically" public-service spots. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bernadette Lafont, Georges Géret, (more)
- 1969
Widely regarded as the crowning achievement of his career, Louis Malle's 378-minute documentary Phantom India provides an epic-length portrait of life in India circa 1968. Biographically, it succeeded Malle's United Artists period movie Le Voleur and the production of the "William Wilson" segment in Spirits of the Dead, and arrived at a time of intense personal crisis for the director: 34-year-old Malle, terrified of falling back into the same bourgeois mindset that he had worked so aggressively to escape, felt it re-encroaching; he also fell into a nasty funk that reportedly drove him to the brink of suicide. With his marriage to Anne-Marie Deschodt in pieces, Malle thus decided to wipe the slate completely clean: he dropped out of western society and headed to India, with a two-man crew (sound man Jean-Claude Laureux and co-cinematographer Etienne Becker), traveling without maps and without a compass - destination and whereabouts unknown. The three shot documentary footage instinctively, flipping on their cameras each time something caught their attention. The journey itself lasted a little under four months, from January 5, 1968 through May 1, 1968; it generated over 30 hours of footage, which Malle and editor Suzanne Baron subdivided thematically and edited into seven segments of about 54 minutes each. The individual episodes (each of which has its own record in this database) are as follows:
Episode 1, "The Impossible Camera"
Episode 2, "Things Seen in Madras"
Episode 3, "The Indians and the Sacred"
Episode 4, "Dreams and Reality"
Episode 5, "A Look at the Castes"
Episode 6, "On the Fringes of Indian Society"
Episode 7, "Bombay: The Future India." ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
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