Films with: Malle, Louis

And the pursuit of happiness

"In 1986, Louis Malle (himself a transplant to the United States) set out to investigate the ever widening range of immigrant experience in America. Interviewing a variety of newcomers in middle- and working-class communities from coast to coast, Malle paints a generous, humane portrait of their individual struggles in an increasingly polyglot nation"--Container.

DVD 8892

Ascenseur pour l'echafaud

Florence Carala and her lover Julien Tavernier, an ex-paratrooper, want to murder her husband by faking a suicide.

DVD 4183

Atlantic City

A smalltime, aging Mafia hood falls in love with a clam bar waitress, and they share the spoils of the big score against the backdrop of a changing Atlantic City.

DVD 2020

Au revoir les enfants Goodbye, children /

Based on the director's life, this film chronicles Malle's experiences during the German occupation of France in World War II.

DVD 585

Calcutta

"When he was cutting PHANTOM INDIA, Louis Malle found that the footage shot in CALCUTTA was so diverse, intense, and unforgettable that it deserved its own film. The result, released theatrically, is at times shocking - a chaotic portrait of a city racked with social and political turmoil"--Container.

DVD 8890

Damage

A middle-aged man and his son's fiancee are entangled in an intensely erotic affair that is as irrestible as it is destructive.

DVD 985

God's country

"In 1979, Louis Malle traveled into the heart of Minnesota to capture the everyday lives of the men and women of a prosperous farming community. He returned six years later, during Ronald Reagan's second term, to find drastic economic decline. Free of stereotypes about America's heartland, GOD'S COUNTRY, commissioned for American public television, is a stunning work of emotional and political clarity"--Container.

DVD 8891

Histoires extraordinaires Spirits of the dead /

In "Metzengerstein", a cruel baroness is convinced that a wild stallion embodies the spirit of her dead cousin, with whom she was in love. "William Wilson" is a sadistic young man who is checkmated by his Doppelgänger. "Toby Dammit", adapted from Poe's "Never bet the Devil your head", tells of an English actor who can't escape a cherub from Hell.

DVD 697

Inde fantome : réflexions sur un voyage Phantom India, reflections on a journey /

"Louis Malle called his gorgeous and ground-breaking PHANTOM INDIA the most personal film of his career. And this extraordinary journey to India, originally shown as a miniseries on European television, is infused with his sense of discovery, as well as occasional outrage, intrigue, and joy"--Container.

DVD 8830

Lacombe Lucien

Traces a young peasant's journey from potential Resistance member to Gestapo recruit. At once the story of a nation and one troubled boy's horrific coming of age, the disquieting portrait of lost innocence and guilt.

DVD 3908

My dinner with André

Two friends, an intense, experimental theater director and a down-to-earth actor, meet over dinner in a New York restaurant and discuss their innermost feelings.

DVD 320

Souffle au coeur = Murmur of the heart

A candid portrait of one boy's journey from childhood to adulthood. A precocious fifteen-year-old boy's sexual maturation and unorthodox relationship with his free-spirited mother is both shocking and deeply poignant.

DVD 4688

Vanya on 42nd Street

A group of actors meet to rehearse Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and find the same conflicts in their own lives as are dealt with in the play.

DVD 2490

Vive le Tour! Humain, trop humain ; Place de la republique /

Vive le tour!: "An energetic evocation of The Tour de France"--Container. Humain, trop humain: "A meditative investigation of the inner workings of a French automotive plant"--Container. Place de la republique: "An entertaining snapshot of the comings and goings on one street corner in Paris"--Container.

DVD 8889

Zazie dans le métro

Zazie is an energetic, saucy little girl from the suburbs who comes to Paris with her mother Jeanne for the weekend. Jeanne has an urgent appointment with her lover, so Uncle Gabby will be looking after Zazie. Zazie particularly wants to ride the Metro--the subway--but the train staff is on strike. So after the obligatory sightseeing trip to the Eiffel Tower, Zazie loses her uncle and embarks on a series of madcap, rather Rabelaisian adventures. While visually borrowing from silent films and cartoons, there is quite a lot of humor, social satire, cultural and linguistic commentary (drawn directly from the novel) that is incomprehensible without a thorough knowledge of French history and culture in the post-war period. To the average American viewer, it is best approached as a surrealistic, farcical slice of French life and enjoyed accordingly.

DVD 8565