#329: MALLE, Louis: Lacombe, Lucien (1974)

3 FILMS BY LOUIS MALLE {Spine #327}

MALLE, Louis (France)
Lacombe, Lucien [1974]

Spine #329
DVD

One of the first French films to address the issue of collaboration during the German occupation, Louis Malle's brave and controversial Lacombe, Lucien traces a young peasant's journey from potential Resistance member to Gestapo recruit. At once the story of a nation and of one troubled boy, the film is a disquieting portrait of lost innocence and guilt.

138 minutes
Color

Monaural

in French

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2006

Director/Writers

Screenplay by Louis Malle and Patrick Modiano.

Malle was 42 when he directed Lacombe, Lucien.

Other Malle films in the Collection:

429: The Lovers (1958)
#335: Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
#570: Zazie Dans le Métro (1960)
Eclipse Series 2: Vive le Tour (1962)
#430: The Fire Within (1963)
Eclipse Series 2: Phantom India (1969)
Eclipse Series 2: Calcutta (1969)
#328: Murmur of the Heart (1971)

Eclipse Series 2: Humain, Trop Humain (1973)
Eclipse Series 2: Place de la République (1974)

#571: Black Moon (1975)

#479: My Dinner with André (1981)
Eclipse Series 2: God's Country (1985)
Eclipse Series 2: . . . And the Pursuit of Happiness (1986)

#330: Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
#599: Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)

The Film

We know Lucien Lacombe (Pierre Blaise) is a monster when he surreptitiously pulls out his slingshot and kills a chirping bird.

Malle makes his devastatingly simple point early on when Lucien asks the schoolteacher (Jean Bousquet) if he can join the Resistance. Rejected as too young — and at odds with his stepfather — he informs on the teacher to the French Gestapo at the first opportunity.

He’s soon swimming in cash and clothes — his golf-pants suit is made by a Jewish tailor escaped from Paris, Albert Horn (Holger Löwenadler). There he meets the daughter, France Horn (Aurore Clément).

[A richly drawn character, she plays the piano very well — convincingly practicing Beethoven.]

The stone-faced grandmother, Bella Horn (Thérèse Giehse), is usually playing solitaire. It is therefore refreshing to see her in a different light by the final act …

Malle’s craftsmanship is on display throughout.

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by Pauline Kael.

“There’s no special magic involved in the moviemaking technique — it’s simple, head-on, unforced. The movie is the boy’s face. The magic is in the intense curiosity and intelligence behind the film — in Malle’s perception that the answers to our questions about how people with no interest in politics become active participants in brutal torture are to be found in Lucien’s plump-cheeked, narrow-eyed face, and that showing us what this boy doesn’t react to can be the most telling of all.”

Commentary

None.

Original theatrical trailer

88

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