327-330 3 Films by Louis Malle

[Michael]

I finally got around to Murmur of the Heart and detested it.

Then I'd suggest you to stay away from Wes Anderson's films, especially Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums. I watched my first Malle film - Murmur of the Heart - last night and became quite fond of it. It's no surprise that this is Anderson's favorite film. More than any other films, Murmur is written all over those two Anderson films. But Murmur's even more fucked up than them. I really liked the film - quite scandalous, funny and charming. The boy was fantastic. During the sex between the boy and his mom, does anyone feel there are some scenes edited or cut off somewhere in that part? It didn't flow smoothly, kind of jarring from the fluidity of the rest of the film.

But what a perfect exit! The family cracked up - what an awesome breath of relief!

[Narshty]

I wish I'd never known about the incest scene - the whole way through it was "When are they going to have sex?", and it only happens ten minutes before the end. Still, the rest of the time was not wasted - far from it. When Louis Malle is on form in his plotless character studies, it feels so easy to watch it can almost be mistaken for a lack of depth or substance, which I find comes most readily in retrospect. If you liked Murmur of the Heart, you really should see Pretty Baby which is one of the saddest films about a wrecked childhood I've ever seen (even more so because the, I suppose, title character doesn't even realise what she's missing).

[Michael]

I wish I'd never known about the incest scene - the whole way through it was "When are they going to have sex?", and it only happens ten minutes before the end. Still, the rest of the time was not wasted - far from it. When Louis Malle is on form in his plotless character studies, it feels so easy to watch it can almost be mistaken for a lack of depth or substance, which I find comes most readily in retrospect. If you liked Murmur of the Heart, you really should see Pretty Baby which is one of the saddest films about a wrecked childhood I've ever seen (even more so because the, I suppose, title character doesn't even realise what she's missing)

Good thing that I didn't know about the incest scene. However I think the film would be just as fine, maybe better, without that scene. What I like the most about it is that it refuses to become heavy-handed with all the shit going on. The tone remains consistently light and funny...probably not an easy thing to succeed.

Oh Pretty Baby.. I remember being obsessed with this movie which ran nonstop on HBO when I was a little boy (yes, I was supposed to be watching movies like Escape to Witch Mountain, Freaky Friday, etc instead but thank god, my mom never supervised what I watched.. now remembering Lipstick, Star 80, Thirst, The Exorcist...with an enormous grin on my face right now). Brooke Shields was my idol, don't ask me why because I still don't even have the answer to it. Thanks for reminding me about Pretty Baby. Time for me to revisit it after 30 years (!) and also Alice Sweet Alice, another Brooke Shields movie released around the same time.

[foggy eyes]

Then I'd suggest you to stay away from Wes Anderson's films

Funnily enough...

[colinr0380]

I wish I'd never known about the incest scene - the whole way through it was "When are they going to have sex?", and it only happens ten minutes before the end.

I remember having a similar feeling when watching Spanking The Monkey, almost wanting the incest to be early on in the story so that then the plot could start properly without the Sword of Damocles foreknowledge that 'it is going to happen, but when?' hanging over the film. (Could this structure be an attempt to build up tension in the audience to try to replicate the sexual tension between the characters?) It seems like both Spanking and Murmur focus more on the build up than the fall out from the irrevocable act which might work better if they were released in a vacuum away from publicity which might allow the incest to creep up on an unaware audience. However once a film is being publicised I suppose it is understandable that this angle is the one seized upon to sell the film, especially when the rest of the drama in the films is more low key.

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

It seems like both Spanking and Murmur focus more on the build up than the fall out from the irrevocable act which might work better if they were released in a vacuum away from publicity which might allow the incest to creep up on an unaware audience.

Funny, I saw this film for the first time tonight. What a waste of time! Are there really people aren't there that can't see this laboriously foreshadowed event coming? And is incest really the 'point' of the film? Oh Monsieur Malle, you what a trite mind. Compare this, say, with how Imamura treats (near) incest. The comparison is not flattering. And that jazz score, a complete irrelevance! [-(

[tartarlamb]

Funny, I saw this film for the first time tonight. What a waste of time! Are there really people aren't there that can't see this laboriously foreshadowed event coming? And is incest really the 'point' of the film? Oh Monsieur Malle, you what a trite mind. Compare this, say, with how Imamura treats (near) incest. The comparison is not flattering. And that jazz score, a complete irrelevance!

Wow, I'm really surprised at the negative reaction to Murmur. The film completely won me over with its deadpan. Its not that you can't see it coming so much as you're kept wondering throughout the film just how far Malle is going to take it, and more importantly, if he can sustain the matter-of-fact presentation.

I also didn't find the kid to be much of a genius. He's a bright middle class kid with a love of jazz. I imagine thats probably what Louis Malle was like as a child (I think he says as much on the bonus disc -- as well as frankly admitting to being curious about having sex with his own mother. Strange guy).

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

as well as frankly admitting to being curious about having sex with his own mother. Strange guy

I have the bonus disc but have not watched it yet. As he's so apparently frank does he mention the latent homoeroticism between pubescents in the Souffle and Au Revoir?

[tartarlamb]

as well as frankly admitting to being curious about having sex with his own mother. Strange guy

I have the bonus disc but have not watched it yet. As he's so apparently frank does he mention the latent homoeroticism between pubescents in the Souffle and Au Revoir?

I haven't listened to or watched the disc since it came out, but I don't recall him saying much. He probably didn't feel like much needed to be said. Its hard to explain the bizarre way in which Malle talks about tabou subjects -- there's no trace that he's playing a provocateur, or that he even understands that what he is saying may be considered outre. He may as well be talking about darning socks. Its part of what won me over with Malle; they way he speaks about Lacombe, Lucien is very similar. You realize that he's not at all interested in morally condemning his character. He was truly just interested in drawing an honest character sketch of what a Lucien Lacombe would have been like. I think he carries over that same moral obliviousness, boundless curiosity and frankness into his documentaries.

Anyway, I think its worth checking out that extras disc. A wonderful, weird man.

[Jason]

My DVD player had trouble with the subtitles on chapter 24 of the Murmur disc, but they showed fine on my computer. Never had this problem before. Any thoughts on what went wrong? Just curious.

[GringoTex]

I'm here to offer more negative reactions, this time for Au revoir, les enfant.

I don't deny that this is Malle's most personally felt film or that he has a crystal clear memory of it to work from. My only question then is why it's populated by stock company archetypes from the history of French boys school movies.

Every character is recognizable, too easily recognizable, and Malle's direction is pitch perfect, too pitch perfect. There's nothing interesting, unexpected, or inspired about it. The only exception is the scene where the boys become lost in the woods during the treasure hunt. For a brief moment, Malle works off of horror film mechanics and the boys' terror becomes palpable. It's the only time in the film I perked up. Otherwise, all I saw were young actors moved about like wooden pawns to teach an all too familair French Occupation lesson for adults.

I still become emotional during Malle's brief voiceover at the end, but it refelcts poorly that a few spoken words can have a bigger impact than the two hours of cinema that preceeded it.

Then I'd suggest you to stay away from Wes Anderson's films, especially Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums.

I've never seen an Anderson film, but thanks for thw warning.

[Mental Mike]

I am new to this thread, but reading over the early comments I am disappointed in the criticism directed to the Malle film releases...I love Last Year at Marienbad and would love to see it on Criterion to accompany my copy of Hiroshima Mon Amour but....

...Malle was just as talented as Truffaut, Godard, Resnais, Melville and all the others who are grouped into the French new wave. It was because of Malle's excellent screenwriting for films such as the Fire Within, Au Revoir les Enfants and Murmur of the Heart that I took up learning french as a second language...

...and those of you who hate Au Revoir Les Enfants, including Quentin Tarantino, should try their hand at writing something even remotely as moving and inspiring as this film documenting the bravery of ordinary human beings in difficult times...instead we have films like the Squid and the Whale and Happiness that just show the depravity of human existence without offering up any solutions..I know these films are popular but I am ashamed that intelligent people just want to be dragged through the muck and mire for two hours before they go out for a beer...

[Rich Malloy]

Baumbach took a great deal of inspiration from "Murmur of the Heart" for his "The Squid and the Whale", particularly with regard to the pacing and editing. Subject matter is obviously much the same, too. Baumbach fully credits Malle for it, and you don't even need a subscription to Cahiers to know it, as Malle gets his due even on the rather skimpy, mainstream R1 "Squid" DVD release.

And you might want to read the criticisms of "Murmur" from the time of its release before you go slagging off a modern admirer of that film. You have (apparently unwittingly) employed much the same criticism against "Squid" (I'll let the "Happiness" admirers defend that work), along with a certain snide dismissal of those of us who rather appreciate being dragged through the 'muck and mire' of this 'depraved' film (as well as Malle's).

Is Quentin Tarantino actually participating in these forums, and does he hate "au revoir"? And why am I talking about these things in a thread about Marienbad? Or was it Baden-Baden?

[Mental Mike]

Are we talking about the same two films - The Squid and The Whale and Murmur of the Heart? I would say they are very different in subject matter...I would like to hear your comparison...

...Quentin Tarantino was very critical of Au Revoir Les Enfants, apparently deriving the title of Reservoir Dogs from his in-joke with video store chums, refering to "Au revoir" as "Au Reservoir les au Fuck"...excuse the language...

...I like Tarantino's films very much but I was upset by this news...

[Rich Malloy]

Are we talking about the same two films - The Squid and The Whale and Murmur of the Heart? I would say they are very different in subject matter...

Yes, we are! In terms of subject matter, I'd characterize both films as narratives told from the perspective(s) of adolescent/post-adolescent brothers who are navigating the usual coming-of-age issues, reacting to a problematic parental relationship (including one brother who apes/adopts the father's perspective, and the other the mother's). Even the issue of incest emerges in "Squid" with the younger brother and his proto-sexual feelings for his mother (though not ultimately consummated as in "Murmur"). Stylistically, both films are shot on location, hand-held, in 16mm, essentially guerrilla style, and both were edited in that loose, breathless hands-over-feet style, with each scene colliding into the next without break or pause.

And it's certainly no secret that "Murmur" is the direct inspiration for "Squid":

The writer-director Noah Baumbach, 35, based the film on his own experience of his parents' divorce. He said that he had struggled for years to find his voice as a filmmaker after making Kicking and Screaming in 1995 but had an epiphany at a screening of the Louis Malle classic Murmur of the Heart, organized by his friend Wes Anderson (a Squid producer).

Q: What was your inspiration for writing THE SQUID AND THE WHALE?

A: I had started writing a script about two brothers who were older, in their thirties, dealing retroactively with their parents' divorce. Then, by chance, I caught a screening of Louis Malle's MURMUR OF THE HEART, which I’d never seen before and watching a movie from the kids’ perspective made me realize that I was dancing around what was really interesting -- that I needed to go directly to that time in my life and tell the story from there.

Baumbach has cited Murmur of the Heart as a key influence on The Squid and the Whale, which shares with Louis Malle's film a spry verbal wit and a startlingly candid purview of pubescent and teen sexuality. "In our completely crazy auteur-theory family that we had going, Louis Malle was always lesser New Wave. It was Godard first, then Rivette. But I saw Murmur of the Heart when I was trying to deal with divorce in a script, using older characters"—two brothers in their thirties looking back on their parents' separation—"and flashbacks. It was getting all glued up. On some level I knew I should be writing it firsthand, and instead I was putting up all these filters. Watching that movie, it suddenly seemed so obvious to me that I should just write about kids. What's so great about that movie, and a lot of the New Wave movies, is that there's something so deceptively laid-back about them. Things seem sort of frivolous, and then suddenly this sadness emerges. Murmur of the Heart ends with a shocker, but then in the very last scene, the family is together laughing. When people talk about The Squid and the Whale, some people think it's an outright comedy, and some people think it's absolutely harrowing. I like that."

A couple of other good interviews citing Malle, "Murmur", and many other nouvelle vague influences.

[psufootball07]

Theyve been showing this for free on IFC. I really wasnt expecting much, but it really was one of the best films I have seen recently. I will definitely have to check out Lacombe, Lucien and Murmur of the Heart.

Anyways IFC is playing some more Criterion DVDs this week, tomorrow and Thursday they are playing Vengeance is Mine. On Saturday you can see the first film of the Samurai Trilogy and Man Bites Dog. And Sunday they are playing Kwaidan.

[aox]

Au revoir les enfants was announced on Blu Ray today!

Just for context: what does Chaplin's 1917 film, The Immigrant have to do with this film? It's listed in the special features.

[med]

It's featured in the movie. I haven't seen Au revoir since I took French in high school ages ago, so I don't recall the context.

[swo17]

I believe it's referring to the scene in The Immigrant where they decide to leave Europe after watching Au revoir les enfants.

[HistoryProf]

so what does this mean for the other two films in this box? obviously Au Revoir was a candidate from day 1, but anyone have a guess as to whether will the others eventually get blu releases?

[Zinoviev]

so what does this mean for the other two films in this box? obviously Au Revoir was a candidate from day 1, but anyone have a guess as to whether will the others eventually get blu releases?

No idea, but I can't imagine Murmur of the Heart looking much better than it does now. A beautiful transfer.

[movielocke]

of the films that lost to Howards End in the Amazon Poll, is this the first to make it to bluray as well?

[perkizitore]

Really surprised that they release Au Revoir on blu-ray, i thought Renoir might take precedence over Malle.

[ccfixx]

of the films that lost to Howards End in the Amazon Poll, is this the first to make it to bluray as well?

Yeah, I think so. I'm pretty sure the titles in the Amazon poll were...

Howards End
Down By Law
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Kwaidan
Au Revoir Les Enfants

CC

[aox]

I think this film is alright, nothing special. If they were going to introduce Malle on BD, I would have preferred Elevator to the Gallows with a pristine lossless audio track.