Sins of Omission - Entry #84: Ascenseur pour l’echafaud/Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Running Time: 91 minutes

Directed By: Louis Malle

Written By: Roger Nimier, Louis Malle, based on the novel by Noel Calef 

Main Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall

A TOUCH OF FRANCE

  

765. Au revoir les enfants/Goodbye Children (1987)

Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: Louis Malle
Main Cast: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Francine Racette, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Francois Berleand
Click here to view the trailer

MALLE HAT TRICK: PART THREE OF THREE

With today comes the finale of my three film salute to Louis Malle and probably his most acclaimed film, "Au revoir les enfants" - another story based on his own childhood.

The film takes place at a Catholic boarding school for boys and opens with our main character, Julien Quentin (Manesse) pleading with his mother not to make him go and ultimately boarding a train and going. Despite the fact that he's a popular boy at school, Julien doesn't care for any of his classmates. He gets along with them because he's forced to, but would rather be elsewhere. When new student Jean Bonnet (Fejto) arrives at school, he is submitted to a fair share of bullying from his peers, simply because he's the new kid in town. The film shows daily life at the Catholic school; students attending classes, interacting with one another and getting into fights and arguments, all while World War II rages on around them, causing them to be subject to air raids and rushed into shelters at various times throughout their stay. We see life through Julien's eyes only and are subject to a very childlike observation of the world around him and a world at war, although the war doesn't have much of an impact on the students' lives. After a while, Julien starts to suspect that Jean may be Jewish and while he doesn't really know what a Jew is, he does know that, at this period, Jews are in a danger. After a longer while, Julien befriends Jean and the two trade thoughts about their studies, the books they read and everyday life. Later, Jean's fate falls into further danger when Germans arrive at school looking for Jews.

SPOILER ALERT!

The film was very well made, there were a few things I liked about it, but ultimately it just wasn't for me. I watched, for the most part, waiting for something poignant to happen, something that would peek my interest or grab my attention, but that moment never really came. Therefore, I won't be able to give this film a glowing review, but I could mildly recommend it to the right audience, as I am able to admit that it was very well made and will have an effect on a lot of it's audience. It was really the ending that was the most memorable part of the film, when a nervous Julien flashes a quick glance toward Jean, tipping the Germans off to his presence, during their search for Jews. This story, based on Malle's own childhood, obviously haunted him throughout his adult years and I wonder just how accurate that ending was. Was it an action from Malle that condemned his Jewish friend? On another site, someone made note of the fact that if they hadn't been friends, Julien probably would have never glanced at Jean and in turn, would have never tipped off the Germans. If you look back further it was actually Father Jean who asked Julien to befriend Jean, feeling sorry for his current situation. The ending WAS perfect, that last final look before Jean Bonnet is taken to Auschwitz, where he would be put to death.

It's easy to see that this event obviously traumatized Malle, for he was able to shoot his picture with childlike eyes, obviously remembering every detail of his time at boarding school. However, the bond between Julien and Jean isn't formed right away and we're forced to muddle through the fairly dull days of life as a child at Catholic school, which wasn't very gripping. I thought I'd take to this one easy, but there's just something about movies with children as their stars that doesn't appeal to me. I've found that I'd rather view the interactions of adults and usually, no matter how poignant the story, kids just don't do it for me. See my review for "Zero for Conduct" and realize that life at a boarding school isn't my cup of tea when it comes to the movies I enjoy.

RATING: 5.5/10  Not bad or anything, just not blow away great, which is what you usually hear about this one. Isn't there some story about this film and Quentin Tarantino and how it influenced his decision to make movies? Anyway, that's the "Malle Hat Trick". "Murmur of the Heart" is the easy winner out of the three and has a shot of at least getting mentioned on the TOP 20 list.

MOVIES WATCHED: 554
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 447

October 17, 2012  2:27pm

660. Atlantic City (1980)

Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: John Guare
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren
Click here to view the trailer

MALLE HAT TRICK: PART TWO OF THREE

Coming to the second of three pars in my "Malle Hat Trick", we follow Louis Malle from France to the U.S., as he explores the gambling capital of the east coast - Atlantic City.

The film centers around Lou Pascal (Lancaster), a longtime resident of Atlantic City and an aging, retired numbers runner for the mob. Nowadays Low spends his days living in his crumby apartment, taking care of his downstairs neighbor and best friend's widow, Mrs. Pinza (Reid) and gazing into the apartment of Sally Matthews (Sarandon), admiring her from afar. Meanwhile, Sally is working at an Atlantic City casino with dreams of making it to Monte Carlo as a croupier. She's taken by surprise when her estranged husband, Dave (Joy) returns to town, along with her sister, whom he ran off with.  Dave is back in town because he stumbled upon a sizable amount of dope and hopes to be able to sell it in Atlantic City. Through a series of coincidental events, Dave meets up with Lou and sees an opportunity to use the old man to help him make the deal. Trouble is, the dope doesn't belong to Dave, it belongs to the mob and when they finally track down Dave in Atlantic City, they pay him back with a knife in the belly and a toe tag. By this time, Lou is already in possession of all the goods and suddenly, due to the death of Dave, he has an in with Sally. Lou suddenly finds himself back in the saddle again, with a fresh racket and courting the lovely Sally Matthews.

The thing I appreciated most about "Atlantic City" is that, much like the character he portrays, Burt Lancaster is given one last shot at the big time. Sure, it wasn't his last movie, but it was kind of his one last hurrah before slipping away into the sunset. And while I'm on the subject of Lancaster, can I say that this is, hands down, my favorite performance of his from THE BOOK, thus far. I liked the character of Lou Pascal better than J.J. Hunsecker (Sweet Smell of Success), The Swede (The Killers) and Sgt. Warden (From Here to Eternity). He was just so charming in this movie and it was really hard not to love his character. Everyone else did a fine job too, although I can say that I'm not the biggest Susan Sarandon fan in the world, even though she is easy on the eyes. This film was quite different than the previous Louis Malle offering, not as deep and very hard to categorize, something THE BOOK makes note of.

Despite my liking for Lancaster's performance, I'm really not sure this film made that much of an impact on me. It was good, but it wasn't great - a problem that ails a lot of the films from the book of "must see" titles. It was perfectly acceptable and I don't even have a beef with it being nominated for Best Picture at the 54th Academy Awards, but I'm just not sure it really deserved inclusion in THE BOOK. Although, there have been countless other films that definitely didn't deserve it and at least I can kind of see why it was included.

RATING: 6.5/10  I COULD HAVE gone as high as a '7', but we'll play it safe and hold it back a notch. Next up: "Au revoir, les enfants".

MOVIES WATCHED: 553
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 448

October 16, 2012  1:08pm

537. Le souffle au coeur/Murmur of the Heart (1971)

Running Time: 118 minutes
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: Louis Malle
Main Cast: Benoit Ferreux, Lea Massari, Daniel Gelin, Fabien Ferreux, Marc Winocourt

MALLE HAT TRICK: PART ONE OF THREE

FINALLY we arrive at the "Malle Hat Trick" and the start of the second half of the season. This three film tribute to Louis Malle would've kicked off last week, had Netflix not sent me a broken copy of "Murmur of the Heart" and screwed up all my plans. Oh well, it's what I've come to expect from that company.

Laurent Chevalier (B. Ferreux) is our main character; a 15-year-old boy who excels in his studies, loves jazz, adores his mother and doesn't love his father. The film starts out on the slow side, introducing us to the Chevalier clan and establishing the character of Laurent. His mother (Massari) is extremely lovable with her three sons, especially Laurent, cuddling and kissing them any chance she gets. The oldest brother is Thomas (F. Ferreux) and the middle child is Marc (Winocourt). They're typical older brothers, picking and bullying Laurent one minute and trying to introduce him to new experiences the next. In fact, the movie begins to pick up when Thomas and Marc take Laurent to Madeleine's, a brothel. Laurent is introduced to a sexy, young whore and is just about to cross "lose my cherry" off of his "to do" list when Thomas and Marc pull him off the young lady. Later, Laurent develops a heart murmur and it is suggested that he go to a sanatorium to recover and have a vacation. The sanatorium is basically like the place where Guido goes in "8 1/2"; kind of like a country club for the sick. He is accompanied by his mother and together the two stay in a hotel together. Let's just go ahead and leave it at that, shall we.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Okay, now that we've closed the door to the people who haven't seen the film, allow me to just say this out loud:

THE LITTLE DUDE SLEEPS WITH HIS MOTHER!?

Whew. Okay, got that off my chest. I'm actually just kidding, really. I don't mean to be insensitive, insincere or ignorant to the beautiful moment that took place on film, between the boy and his mother, but we'll get to that in a minute. I meant it when I said it, the film really does start out a tad slow. I was having a hard time warming up to the characters and in my view, there wasn't enough alone time with the audience and Laurent. He was being smothered by the other characters on the screen and the two boys that played his brothers were just farking annoying. I guess I just don't understand the concept of asshole older brothers, because while I did have one older brother, he was never an asshole and almost always a really cool guy. Anyway, it wasn't a terrible first half or anything, but I would recommend hanging in there if you decide to check this out. That's the problem with films that are scripted in episodes; one part can be amazing, while the next part can be unappealing and the whole film ends up being a hit and miss affair. Once we get to the sanatorium is where things really start to pick up, as we get a little more intimate with Laurent and his mother.

It's a known fact that "Murmur of the Heart" was based heavily on Malle's own childhood, which begs the question...was there an incestuous relationship between Malle and his own mother? It is quite obvious from the beginning of this film that Laurent has feelings for his mother and not just the normal feelings that a son has for his mom. So why wasn't I disgusted by the act of love that is committed between Laurent and his mother? Well, the film is executed so well that it literally plays with your emotions and the act is hinted to so heavily throughout the film that when it finally happens, you aren't THAT surprised by it. It's actually quite the beautiful scene, one that will stand out among millions of other scenes that THE BOOK has introduced me to. Or was it simply that the woman playing Laurent's mother (Lea Massari) was so hot that we, the viewer (and especially the male viewer) didn't mind watching the act. Now, even as I write that it sounds like I'm kidding but I'm kinda not. Guys, imagine the woman playing Laurent's mother to be Ave Ninchi - the woman who played Augusta. Now, would that have made you view the scene the same way you viewed it with Lea Massari or would you have been utterly disgusted? Wow, I have a feeling I'm saying some pretty outlandish things here and that I should probably hold my finger on the "BACKSPACE" button until it all goes away and write something a little more sensitive, but I'm not gonna'.

RATING: 7/10  That could rise with time. With a few exceptions, the past two or three weeks worth of films have been steadily good, but nothing blow away. That's not necessarily a bad thing though and could make for me a difficult task come TOP 20 time. Next up: "Atlantic City".

MOVIES WATCHED: 552
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 449

October 16, 2012  12:27am