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Special Features
- New, restored digital transfer of the complete, uncensored version
- Selection of archival interviews
- Gallery of promotional material
- A new essay by film historian Ginette Vincendeau
Editorial Reviews
Louis Malle unveiled the natural beauty of Jeanne Moreau in his breakthrough, Elevator to the Gallows. With his follow-up, the scandalous smash The Lovers> (Les amants), he made her a star once and for all. A deeply felt and luxuriously filmed fairy tale for grown-ups, perched on the edge between classical and New Wave cinemas, The Lovers presents Moreau as a restless bourgeois wife whose eye wanders from both her husband and her lover to an attractive passing stranger (Jean-Marc Bory). Thanks to its frank sexuality, The Lovers caused quite a stir, being censored and attacked for obscenity around the world. If today its shock has worn off, its glistening sensuality and seductive storytelling haven't aged a day.
Special Features
* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the complete, uncensored version
* - Selection of archival interviews with Louis Malle, actors Jeanne Moreau and José Luis de Villalonga, and writer Louise de Vilmorin
* - Gallery of promotional material from the U.S. theatrical release
* - New and improved English subtitle translation
* - PLUS: A new essay by film historian Ginette Vincendeau
Special Features
* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the complete, uncensored version
* - Selection of archival interviews with Louis Malle, actors Jeanne Moreau and José Luis de Villalonga, and writer Louise de Vilmorin
* - Gallery of promotional material from the U.S. theatrical release
* - New and improved English subtitle translation
* - PLUS: A new essay by film historian Ginette Vincendeau
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
I have seen this film when it first came out some 40 years ago and I will never forget it. It proves that a love making act can be presented with an autmost purity and sensitivity, and without the need for pornography.I cannot wait for it to be released again.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By David
Format:VHS Tape
I saw this film along with a Yiddish stage show in a theatre on south beach in Miami many years ago. It was difficult at the time, to really enjoy the movie since it was inappropriate for that particular audience as they were laughing and giggling at the very serious and sensitive scenes due to their embarrassment.I loved the movie and think about it every time I hear strains of Brahms Double Concerto, (repeated beautifully in many love scenes)"The Lovers" is a French tale of adultery without today's nudity and language - but oh so very sexy! I would recommend this movie for anyone who is a fan of Louis Malle. His direction of Jeanne Moreau is superb. I am eagerly awaiting the re-issue of this film so that I may own it and enjoy watching it again and again.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
It's the Brahms first sextet, Opus 18, that's used in this movie, not his Double Concerto, as reported by an earlier reviewer. This exquisite Brahms piece provides one of the greatest soundtracks in the history of film. (Another is the Miles Davis original soundtrack for an earlier Louis Malle film, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud.)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
To talk about the meaning and trascendence of The lovers means to make reference to one of the most remakable, irreverent and daring films in the Fifties decade. If you look behind in the story of the cinema, you will find interesting proposals such as The devil in the flesh, Ectasy (with Hedy Lamarr), Pandora Box, The blue angel, Gilda, Baby Doll for instance, but never before a film loaded with such abundance of dark poetry,increasing tension and a great doses of references about the double moral and social hypocrisy.
After the huge sucess in the whole world with Elevator to the Gallows, Louis Malle decided to make an unique film; a true fullfillment in every sense of the meaning.
Louis de Villalonga and Jeanne Moreau are specially splendid in this unmatched film that deserves all your special attention.
A true landmark in the story of the cinema.
After the huge sucess in the whole world with Elevator to the Gallows, Louis Malle decided to make an unique film; a true fullfillment in every sense of the meaning.
Louis de Villalonga and Jeanne Moreau are specially splendid in this unmatched film that deserves all your special attention.
A true landmark in the story of the cinema.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Ted
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
The Lovers known in French as Les Amants is Louis Malle's second feature film after Elevator to the Gallows. It also was the first of his films to generate controversey. It was censored upon its release in the US and other countries but A theater owner in Ohio who screened this film was charged with screening an obscene film and in a case that made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, the charges overturned. I think it would get a hard PG-13 or a light R with today's standards.
The film is about a married woman who having an affair and on her way home from a liason with her lover her car breaks down. A man then pulls over and he drives her to a garage. She then begins a relationship with him too.
This film is certainly not obscene as the censors maintained 50 years ago. Some scenes might be considered indecent by some though. I thought it was an interesting story but didn't care too much for the adultery theme.
The special features on the DVD are a slideshow of material for the US release and archival interviews with Louis Malle, writer, Louise de Vilmorin, actress, Jeanne Moreau, and actor José Luis de Villalonga.
The Lovers known in French as Les Amants is Louis Malle's second feature film after Elevator to the Gallows. It also was the first of his films to generate controversey. It was censored upon its release in the US and other countries but A theater owner in Ohio who screened this film was charged with screening an obscene film and in a case that made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, the charges overturned. I think it would get a hard PG-13 or a light R with today's standards.
The film is about a married woman who having an affair and on her way home from a liason with her lover her car breaks down. A man then pulls over and he drives her to a garage. She then begins a relationship with him too.
This film is certainly not obscene as the censors maintained 50 years ago. Some scenes might be considered indecent by some though. I thought it was an interesting story but didn't care too much for the adultery theme.
The special features on the DVD are a slideshow of material for the US release and archival interviews with Louis Malle, writer, Louise de Vilmorin, actress, Jeanne Moreau, and actor José Luis de Villalonga.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Criterion's recent release of Louis Malle's "The Lovers" is a hidden gem; a film that makes viewing many classic art films- in hope of finding a transcendent work- worthwhile I have always thought Jeanne Moreau was one of the finest French actresses of her generation through such noteworthy films such as "Jules and Jim," " Elevator to the Gallows," "Diary of a Chambermaid," and "La Notte" However, this film elevates her to the level of, in my opinion, such later great French actresses as Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert- and like the other two actresses she is still acting in films today; but the transformation of a "bored "bourgeoisie bitch," who reminded me of a French Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, to a vulnerable, sensually aware, luminescent beautiful woman through a sensual/sexual liaison with a freethinking, and authentic (with a young man who had in bourgeoisie background that he rejected) is hypnotic and spell binding. Prior to this, her life in the French, low cultured, Provences (anywhere but Paris) is so stifling that she is carrying on a relatively open affair with an idle rich, superficial, (but pleasant) Spanish polo player. He, like her workaholic, cynical, domineering, wealthy husband, is almost old enough to be her father, and, as is often the case of men who struggled through the horrors of world war II, is devoid of any real self awareness. Moreover, the Moreau character was certainly what we would call today a "trophy wife."
The last third of the film, involving the transformative sensual encounter, was cinematically and characterlogically mesmerizing. The depictions of nature at night, both human/sensual and scenic, were hauntingly beautiful.... Read more ›
The last third of the film, involving the transformative sensual encounter, was cinematically and characterlogically mesmerizing. The depictions of nature at night, both human/sensual and scenic, were hauntingly beautiful.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A breakthrough for Louis Malle
This is a lovely early Louis Malle film that shows him beginning to find his own urbane and witty voice after the stylish noir homage Elevator to the Gallows. Read more
Published on March 8, 2010 by jonsj
5.0 out of 5 stars
astounding, no other word for it.
Had someone asked me to name the most romantic films of all time before seeing what I think is Louis Malle's masterpiece, I would have said "Last Year at Marienbad" or "L'Atalante"... Read more
Published on November 16, 2009 by Arnold Cusmariu
5.0 out of 5 stars
Malle's "love" letter to Moreau
After working with Jeanne Moreau in ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, Louis Malle decided to showcase her in his next film, THE LOVERS. Read more
Published on November 27, 2008 by JfromJersey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Woman's sexual freedom = scandal!
It is amazing to see the film made in late 50s and realize that this film has caused a stir all over the world, US included. Read more
Published on August 4, 2008 by Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wish you carried this video.
Please get this video. It is excellent
Published on February 23, 1999
