Murmur of the Heart (1971) ( Le Souffle au coeur ) ( Dearest Love ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - France ]

Louis Malle is both producer and director of a Masterpiece in this movie, Murmur of the Heart. The viewer has to remember the time and place of this DVD movie occurs when many Western European Nations had endured the ravages of World War II, in some of those nations rationing did not end until the 1950s, and some were loosing their colonial empires. This movie begins with young adolescent Roman Catholic School boys collecting contributions in the public for French Soldiers in combat as the French downfall in Indochina, exemplified by the battle Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam that was about to be lost. Malle brings focus on his 14 year old hero, Laurent (played by Benoit Ferreux who gives the performance par excellence). Laurent is a perfect example of a gangling, typical growing14-year-old's anatomy with out-of-place long legs and an oversized head marching towards maturity. His immature youth is illustrated by typical mood swings from rage to mischief who is determined to embrace his above average intelligence and qualities (a 14 year-old interested in the books by Albert Camus? Remarkable!). However, Malle keeps Laurentwithin the pervue of other boys in his class who are captivated by his penchant to be tempted and aware with a magnetic charisma laced with shrewdness and observance of his surroundings. Even a young blond boy appears to have an innocent "puppy love" for Laurent which is common for an older maturing youth. He is the youngest Son in a pretentious family of economic and social privilege (complete with servants, a cosmopolitan Italian Mother, A Father who is a gynecologist Doctor and two older romping Brothers with relentless irritations). Murmur of the Heart has multiple definitions for Laurent. His Brothers escort Laurent to their favorite Brothel for him to have his "first love." Then, he develops a physical heart murmur during his Boy Scout Summer encampment and has to be confined to bed rest, no attendance at school and sent to a Spa. At the Spa Laurent wrenches at the treatments which require him to disrobe to be nude before women. In France, the public display of affection is startling by other standards. For example, the scene where the Catholic Priest in the Parochial School counsels Laurent's interests, and compliments the boys growth by putting his hands around the thigh of the Lad's leg. In that culture it is not a sexual pass, but no different than a complimentary hand on the shoulder of the youth. When the Priest grants Laurent's request to end the counseling session it ended with no advance on the boy that could be inappropriate. Boys who hug and kiss on the cheek or holding hands while walking down a street; some men display these public behaviors also. Daily customs and social mores differ in European cultures. Of course, Laurent is taunted by Medical Technicians about his maturing appearance. Then, Laurent challenges his own Mother about probable liaisons with other men, which leads to incest between both of them. Nevertheless, at the end all of them mesh as a family with Laurent as the lead - character through all of the vignettes. This DVD film is a superb presentation of a culture in which people are recovering from a horrid World War,changes of political position of France in world affairs, and the young like Laurent who attempts to make sense of all surroundings around him who is determined to carry on in life and grow up as a maturing person.

Le souffle au coeur (Louis Malle, 1971, 118`)Le souffle au coeur tells a coming of age story about a 14-year-old boy growing up in bourgeois surroundings in post-World War II Dijon. The film was a hit across Europe, gaining 2.7 million admissions in France alone, and was also a modest hit in the United States. The film starts by showing the adventures of the boy in school and his first sexual experience at a brothel. When the boy is found to have a heart murmur after a bout of scarlet fever, he goes with his mother (Lea Massari) to a sanatorium, where a series of events lead to a sexual encounter with his mother. Jazz music by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, along with books by Bataille, Proust and Camus, feature prominently in the film.Louis Malle '(1932-1995) was an award-winning French film director, screenwriter, and producer. His film, Le monde du silence, won the Palme d'Or and Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1956. He was also nominated multiple times for Academy Awards later in his career. Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries, Nord, France. He initially studied political science at the Sciences-Po before turning to film studies at IDHEC instead. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood, and he produced both French and English language films.His feature films were: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958), Les Amants (1958), Zazie dans le métro (1960), Vie privée (1962), Le feu follet (1963), Viva Maria! (1965), Le voleur (1967), Histoires extraordinaires (1968), Le souffle au coeur (1971), Lacombe Lucien (1974), Black Moon (1975), Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1981), My Dinner with Andre (1981), Crackers (1984), Alamo Bay (1985), Au revoir, les enfants (1987), Milou en Mai (1989), Damage (1992), Vanya on 42nd Street (1994).Malle is sometimes considered to be "nouvelle vague", though his work does not directly fit their auteurist theory and he had nothing to do with the Cahiers du Cinéma; yet, he exemplified many characteristics of the movement, including using natural light, and shooting on location. His film Zazie dans le métro, after Raymond Queneau's novel, made Truffaut write him an enthusiastic letter. Many of Malle's films also tackled taboo subjects: Les amants both adultery and nudity, Le feu follet suicide, Le souffle au coeur incest, and Lacombe Lucien collaboration with the Nazis in Vichy France during WWII.In the case of Le souffle au coeur, apart from Malle's ease and elegance in dealing with censor-prone subjects, Lea Massari (the young woman Anna going missing in Antonioni's L'avventura) and pre-modern urban destruction Dijon are the true stars of the film: Mlle Massari by her warm personality and brilliant dynamics, the city of Dijon by its noble statics.112us - Le souffle au coeur (Louis Malle, 1971, 118`) - 21/7/2012