Le feu follet (The Fire Within)
Dir: Louis Malle
1963
***
Celebrated as one of Malle's best, particularly of his earlier films, I don't believe Le Feu follet really deserves all the praise it's received. It is a great film, with brilliant performances and a subtlety in script and story that never once wanders into the cliched romantic view of alcoholism, miserable-ism, depression etc that many Hollywood films have and do. It's treated with respect and it's conclusion is a powerful and realistic one which you have to give it credit for. All that and the visual beauty of the film aside, I just can't get over excited about a film in which the boom stick and camera man are so often visible, call me fickle but those kinds of things take away some enjoyment and realism for me.

Black Moon
Dir: Louis Malle
1975
****
Black Moon begins with intrigue and suspense, in a not quite post apocalyptic world where there is a gender war for reasons unknown throughout the film. Or so it seems anyway. Was Alice on drugs during her trip to wonderland or was she just mentally unstable? So many question, very little answers - apart from the ones given by his brother Vincent Malle;"He was obsessed with the German actress Therese Giehse and was very attracted to the Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart and wanted to try and find a way of getting them in a film together. He came up with Black Moon soon after reaching this decision" Why not, he's a worthy Director, why can't he have his fun. For a completely nonsensical film it isn't too bad either, Alice in Wonderland meets Alphaville. Cathryn Harrison is captivating throughout.

Milou en mai (AKA May Fools)
Dir: Louis Malle
1990
****
Every great European director has that certain special film. The big ensemble piece, the one that branches youth and old age. Fellini had Amarcord, Rohmer had Claire's Knee, Truffaut had the Wild Child, and so on. These films are few and far between today with only Julie Delpy's Le Skylab springing to mind. It's what Woody Allen is so tirelessly trying to achieve. Irrelevant, farcical, warmhearted nonsense that actually makes a lot of sense. Don't expect to learn much about the 1968 student uprising in Paris as such but instead enjoy a light-hearted and whimsical viewpoint of the country folk. What makes a matriarch, what makes a family and is innocence the same as naivety and are both exclusive to youth. Classic French cinema, the very best of je ne sais quoi.

Le souffle au coeur (AKA Murmur of the Heart)
Dir: Louis Malle
1971
***
When people mock and stereotype French films without really understanding them, Le souffle au coeur is a good point of reference. No other country produces films so beautifully on the subject of getting ones end away. Of course, as crude as maybe the British and American versions maybe, only the French versions seem to end in our protagonist actually loosing their virginity to their own Mothers. OK, so French Mothers are beautiful, but that's no excuse. As much as I liked the rest of the film and as much as I love Malle I just can't quite get the disgust out of my head. At first I thought it might be a comment on high society, secularism and the Bourgeoisie but I can find nothing documented to back up my idea. Seriously though, if this film isn't supposed to be about the Oedipus complex, why include the incest? When people claim this is one of Malles best I can only think that they haven't seen much of his work. Once again though, that is just my opinion and you're most welcome to it.

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.