429-430 The Fire Within and The Lovers

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Highway 61 · #76 Post by **Highway 61** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:02 pm

A brilliant French professor of mine assigned me to catch a screening of The Lovers three years ago. I had a hopeless crush on her and desperately wanted to impress her, so I showed up early, sat in the front row and everything, yet I couldn't keep my goddamn eyes open. I straight-up told her I'd fallen asleep, and she said she couldn't blame me. Ended up writing about Zazie dans le metro instead. Great film.

#77 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:17 pm

Highway 61 wrote:Ended up writing about Zazie dans le metro instead. Great film.

An infinitely better film in every respect. Interesting to note that Malle's best films, such as Zazie or My Dinner With Andre, are primarily the cinematic product of their authors. Like the Classical Hollywood workhorse I always associate him with, Malle could turn in excellent work when given the right materials.

tartarlamb · #78 Post by **tartarlamb** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:07 pm

I love this movie. My favorite Malle, and a perfect example of how he was able tackle such an incredible diversity of subject matters and employ such a great variety of styles, while still maintaining the same sincere devotion to the material and the same earnest curiosity in almost every film.

But more importantly, does anyone know what kind of glasses Alain wears?

ando · #79 Post by **ando** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:35 am

Malle admitted that he would have taken a much darker approach to this material had he made the film later - and I can understand that. Moreau's giggling fit (when her husband is referred to as a "big brown bear") is infectious. The" moonlight lit" trist is a highlight but comes too late to save this unbelievably (for Malle) banal melodrama.

allusory · #80 Post by **allusory** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:44 am

Could anyone clarify what exactly is being referred to at 1:30, when Marina says to Alain "Once he gets his divorce" and Alain responds "Bravo. That's true love!"

#81 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:29 am

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#82 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:57 am

Malle is as frustratingly uneven as ever here. I know this film has its fans here, but I found this overly self-serious and mediocre in even its best passages. The languid pacing of the initial human interaction that opens the film never convinced me Malle knew why he was holding too long in the shot, and nothing that came after made me accept the inner turmoil or outer despair of the protagonist as anything other than phony posturing on the part of the filmmaker-- call it emotional slumming. As empty a film as suicide is a gesture

#83 Post by **domino harvey** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:26 pm

Has the Film Club finally given up and shot itself in the chest?

429-430 The Fire Within and The Lovers

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Re: 429-430 The Fire Within and The Lovers

The Fire Within (Louis Malle, 1963)

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Re: The Fire Within (Louis Malle, 1963)