Louis Malle (French Film Directors) [Paperback]

Hugo Frey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0719064570 | ISBN-13: 978-0719064579 | Publication Date: November 4, 2004

Hugo Frey introduces Malle's work through a lucid analysis of his many masterpieces, including Le Feu Follet, Lacombe Lucien and Au Revoir les Enfants. He also traces the director's extended period of work in America, which resulted in powerful films such as Pretty Baby, Atlantic City and My Dinner with Andrbliogé. The book focuses on the most challenging aspects of Malle's oeuvre, his aesthetic vision, his youthful attraction to a form of right-wing pessimism, and his 1970s libertarianism. By rethinking Malle's portrayals of Nazi-occupied France, Frey demonstrates that he is of equal importance to contemporary historians as to film studies. This is a nuanced study of an important filmmaker, and a critical intervention in the debates which surround Malle's work.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hugo Frey is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at University College Chichester.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Manchester University Press (November 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719064570
• ISBN-13: 978-0719064579
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A filmmaker like few others!, October 9, 2011

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Louis Malle (French Film Directors) (Hardcover)

The imbalance that occurs in the collective psyche or the individual conscience due historical transitions, times of crisis, breakdown and replacement of other values, constitute the raw material in which Louis Malle forged their stories. Moreover, the thematic element that serves as a common denominator, which stands above the rest is for moral transgressions in all their variants. Whether incest, murder, revenge, existential suicide, prostitution, gambling, racism, collaborationist, adultery, betrayal and all unforeseeable consequences that could trigger a loving irrepressible passion, is what enabled this multi-talented manager French, to sculpt the mosaic around he displayed all taboos, social conventions that form the cornerstone of Western civilization.

Seen in the light of the historical period covered and Louis Malle lived, I dare say that probably no other director had an amalgam French so vast to recreate, draw and describe as fierce realism, so colorful this set of disorders, neurosis daily any family nesting in cultured medium.

While it is true that at the end of his life, Malle experienced a nostalgic return to the theater (My Dinner with Andre and Vanja 42)- what it could set the end of a huge cycle - one can clearly distinguish a solid conceptual unity that transcends anecdote to produce in the viewer the cathartic effect so characteristic of Greek Tragedy.

This text deals with admirable fruition and overflowing vitality, full of Malle's work, weaving a wonderful biography and also a valuable information about these minute details that shed light on his fabulous way through the cinema.

Needless to say Malle is by far, one of my most admired directors out of time. His tenacity, determination and the tireless unique ability to weave stories including autobiographical details (Au revoir les enfants) was the trigger that impelled me to buy this book at the time.

Absolutely essential. Do not stop reading it.