Lacombe Lucien

Dir: Louis Malle

1974

****

Lacombe Lucien at first glance seems to be a bit of a contradiction. Who would join the Gestapo after being shunned by the Resistance and then go on to enter a relationship with a Jewish Girl? It has been said that the character  "must remain forever mysterious, forever beyond our sympathy" which I couldn't have said better myself. People have, do and will always make decisions that make no sense and this is Malle's exploration of the idea. The idea was so unpopular with the French that he actually left France for America soon after. You can see why it was controversial, people do remember the Resistance before those that didn't abide and for very good reason, although most people didn't have a choice. Facing the fact that some people did join the Nazi ideal because they either agreed with it or used it as an opportunity is a hard thing to do and even harder to understand. In 1974 many French people would have still remembered this but lest it be forgotten. The last scene is made even more poignant by the fact that the young actor Pierre Blaise died just months after at the age of 23.