Don’t feel so lonely. He’s a master. The history of the cinema would be quite empty without
Zazie dans le Metro
Atlantic City
Le Feu Follet
Lacombe Lucien
and of course Reservoir Dogs.
I think there’s a great deal of love for Malle on this site.
Murmur of the Heart, for me defies description. It is shot with such richness and the tenderness that it transcends the art form. It becomes a perfect slice of life.
And Malle rivals Ozu in their respective directing of minors.
To be perfectly honest, no, I have no love for Louis Malle. He’s a director that just never appealed to me at all. I’ll be giving Elevator to the Gallows a try soon, so maybe that will change my mind, but at this point I’m not expecting much. In a way he reminds me a little of Gus Van Sant, another director people seem to really dig but who leaves me entirely cold if not actively hostile. I’d like to hear more about why people like Malle’s work since that may help me gain some feeling for it.
Wow, Greg….dude…mate…you’ve seen more films than anyone here…and you haven’t watched Elevator to the Gallows yet????
I have to savor this moment of…superiority, hahaha… ;)
Not more than anyone here, David, for example, just doesn’t rate the films he’s seen and he undoubtedly has me beat by thousands. I’m sure there are others here who also are in the same boat.
I’ve meant to see Elevator for quite a while, for the score if nothing else, but my distaste for Malle always holds me back.
I’ve only seen Elevator to the Gallows and absolutely loved it! I’ve been meaning to check out his other stuff to but…I already have 100 films in my queue waiting to be watched. The next one of his I’ll probably check out is Au Revoir, Les Enfents since I always hear so much about it.
He is one of the best French directors imo, The Fire WIthin and My Dinner With Andre are quite amazing. Maybe not as experimental as his peers, but he tapped into the human condition better than most.
I’m not sure what this “distaste” constitutes. Malle’s a very sharp and intelligent filmmaker with a wide range of interests and his pulse on a number of important places.
While he arrived with the New Wave (and “Elevator to the Scaffold” is a New Wave film if there ever was one — shot on the streets in a freewheeling style and starring Jeanne Moreau) he was at a distance from the others in that he wasn’t a “Cahiers” critic and came from an upper-class family. Godard did too, but turned his back on them. The others were all proles.
“Souffle au Coeur” (which I should have listed with the others in my previous ost) is a very telling protrait of where he came from. I doubt his mother was Lea Massari, but then that’s what the movies are for. Who wouldn’t want Lea Massari for a mother?
“Le Feu Follet” is as great a “real time” movie as “Cleo de 5 a 7” and offers a vision of the postwar French right-wing of incredible insight.
Or to put it anothe way there’s no way in wolr Andrew Breitbart could comprehend it.
“Atlantic City” is incredibly lovely and knowing. Whe Susan Sarndon (who he was having an affair with at the time) turns her big saucer eys up at Burt Lancaster and says “Teach me stuff” it’s one of those moments I fucking LIVE FOR every time I go to the movies — and very seldom find.
Be a lot more if Criterion had released Zazie.
As it is, he knew how to photograph La Moreau. That’s enough.
Gosh, it’s nice to hear this stuff from others. All great films indeed, David!
@IDREAMINCELLULOID You are so right about his gift for directing children. He’s AMAZINGLY intuitive with them.
Thanks, guys! Made my day.
Hey,I’m not trying to justify my feeling about his work, I just haven’t been able to warm to him yet. It could be that I haven’t seen his best films since I’ve been limited to his American films, Viva Maria!, Lacombe Lucien, Murmur of the Heart/Le souffle au coeur, and his bit in Spirits of the Dead (which was the best part).
Some of it is I for the most part don’t enjoy coming of age type stories about young boys, but even setting that aside, there is something tonally that keeps me at arms length from the more celebrated of the films I’ve seen and leaves me cold.
I don’t hate his films, well, Crackers I came pretty close to hating, but I don’t really get a feel for them either. My Dinner with Andre was pleasant enough, and I liked Alamo Bay, but that’s ‘cause I have big crushes on Harris and Madigan, but Atlantic City, Pretty Baby, Damage, and Vanya didn’t do anything for me, even though I agree about Saradon being quite good, and Lacombe I more actively disliked. Viva Maria was what it was, but I couldn’t help feel it had a pacing or tempo problem as well. I always feel just a little off the beat with Malle, and his characters feel kind of flat when I know they shouldn’t be. Just a taste thing I guess, but I’m hoping that I’ll get over it or find some films of his I do warm to.
Oh, I almost forgot, The Silent World is pretty great. Hard not to love Jacques Cousteau.
I like Malle – there’s still a lot of his films I need to see though. I loved Elevator to the Gallows and My Dinner with Andre and Zazie in the Metro was interesting. Murmur of the Heart I appreciated, but need to see again to really form a solid opinion on it.
I have copies of The Fire Within, Lacombe Lucien, and Au Revoir, Les Enfents but haven’t gotten around to watching them yet. Also … one film that I don’t think has been suggested yet on this thread: Black Moon – something just a little bit different.
Oooh… indeed, I have not heard anyone namedrop Black Moon before. I’m real intrigued now. I think my next purchases may have to be Black Moon and Zazie then.
“Black Moon” doesn’t quite work but like all movies starring Joe Dallesandro is very much worth seeing.
“Pretty Baby” is marvelously audacious — looking at America’s sexual fetishization of prepubescent girls right in the eye. Brooke is really great in it as are Keith Carradine and Susan Sarandon.
And who can resist a film in which Frances Faye and Barbara Steele are featured in the supporitng cast.
I became a two-fold fan of Louis Malle a while back, when his Eclipse set of documentaries was released.
I had previously only seen his youth trilogy & was not moved in the slightest.
I think that boxset is actually a trilogy of his weakest films,
or at least, three films of his that don’t resonate with me.
However, upon seeing Elevator to the Gallows, being a MIles Davis fan & with its excellent black-&-white photography & mood; then later seeing My Dinner with Andre when I found a copy at the library, (pre-Criterion release it was a very hard-to-find film, ’round these parts) by then i was officially enamored & started to seek out his other works with fervor.
The Lovers did very little for me, while
The Fire Within left me contemplative & melancholy for the rest of the evening.
At some point, i began to see his documentaries. Specifically,
God’s Country + …And the Pursuit of Happiness held me awe-struck.
At the time, they were exactly the kind of films I would’ve wanted to make.
Later, after gaining some cinematic patience with age,
I rewatched & loved Phantom India & especially Calcutta.
Vanya on 42nd Street was a wonderful exercise of the artistic process. Completely engaging. I loved it.
I later got Atlantic City & Pretty Baby via netflix & found the former very well-mannered & superbly structured.
I have even likened Atlantic City to Chinatown on more than one occasion.
Pretty Baby i would need to see a second time before taking any real critical stance.
It may not show now, but Malle was typically controversial in his time, which granted, is not always the mark of a great filmmaker, but in understanding his constistant resistance to show taboos in black or white, be it in The Lovers, Fire Within, Pretty Baby, or Murmur of the Heart, my appreciation for him as a master of subtly grew.
Today, I am still patiently eager to see Black Moon, May Fools, & Zazie.
i LOVE Louis Malle.
I have a lot of love for Louis Malle! He was a great director and what I find interesting is how varied his films were.
Films by him that I absolutely love: Elevator to the Gallows, The Lovers, The Fire Within, My Dinner with André, Au revoir les enfants
I also enjoyed Murmur of the Heart quite a bit.
I didn’t mind Pretty Baby although I wouldn’t consider it a favorite by him.
Damage was kinda weak, but I didn’t hate it..
And I definitely need to check out Zazie dans le métro and Black Moon (where can I find this?)
I haven’t seen any of his documentaries yet, but I’m sure I will at some point.
The Lovers is my personal favorite Louis Malle film, and the most convincing love story I’ve ever seen. Jeanne Moreau’s clandestine twilight stroll through the woods with Jean-Marc Bory is breathtakingly beautiful, not to mention intensely erotic, as they naturally end up in bed, where they examine every fold, every nook and cranny, of each other, like an awe-struck entomologist upon discovering an unknown species. Gorgeous stuff.
A frog moth just made me want to see The Lovers again.
The Elliott Smith song Needle in the Hay accompanies the scene in The Royal Tenenbaums in which Luke Wilson’s character precedes his suicide attempt with the line “I’m going to kill myself tomorrow” borrowed from The Fire Within, which is about a man who commits suicide by shooting himself in the heart. Elliott Smith stabbed himself in the chest two years after the release of The Royal Tenenbaums. Spooky, no?
I absolutely love Malle but the sad thing is that I’ve only seen My Dinner With Andre (which is my number 10 film of all time) and Au Revoir Les Enfants which is magnificent.
It’s true that he does get overlooked and isn’t usually in the conversation with Tarkovsky, Bergman, Godard, and Fellini. I very much look forward to seeing the rest of his filmography more than any other director.
Alexander Robino
Sometimes, I feel like Louis Malle’s lone fanboy. He’s got some boxset releases and stuff, sure… but I feel like he just doesn’t get mentioned as much as he should. The man was not as innovative with filmmaking as some of his contemporaries, but I think that’s simply because he was a straightforward narrative kinda guy. For my money, he was a great filmmaker all the same though. Maybe I’m just not looking hard enough, but how bout it? Any other Malle fans out there? Whether you are or aren’t, tell me your thoughts on the man and his movies. :)