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Louis Malle

Louis Marie Malle (French: [lwi mal]; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made documentaries, romances, period dramas, and thrillers. He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter.[2]

Louis Malle
Born
Louis Marie Malle[1]

(1932-10-30)30 October 1932
Thumeries, Nord, France
Died23 November 1995(1995-11-23) (aged 63)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Alma materSciences Po
La Fémis
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • producer
Years active1953–1995
Spouse(s)
(m. 1965; div. 1967)

(m. 1980)
Children3

Malle's most famous works include the crime thriller Elevator to the Gallows (1958), the romantic drama The Lovers (1958), the World War II drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), the period drama Pretty Baby (1978), the romantic crime film Atlantic City (1980), the dramedy My Dinner with Andre (1981), and the autobiographical Au revoir les enfants (1987). He also co-directed the landmark underwater documentary The Silent World with Jacques Cousteau, which won the 1956 Palme d'Or and the 1957 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Malle is one of only four directors to have won the Golden Lion twice. His other accolades include three Césars, two BAFTAs, and three Oscar nominations. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1991.[3]

Early life

Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries, Nord, France, the son of Françoise (Béghin) and Pierre Malle.[4]

During World War II, Malle attended a Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. As an 11-year-old he witnessed a Gestapo raid on the school, in which three Jewish students, including his close friend, and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. Malle depicted these events in his autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants (1987).

As a young man, Malle studied political science at Sciences Po from 1950 to 1952 (some sources incorrectly state that he studied at the Sorbonne) before turning to film studies at IDHEC.

Career

Malle worked as co-director and cameraman with Jacques Cousteau on the documentary The Silent World (1956), which won an Oscar and the Palme d'Or at the 1956 Academy Awards and Cannes Film Festival, respectively. He assisted Robert Bresson on A Man Escaped (Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut, 1956) before making his first feature, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in 1957 (released in the U.K. as Lift to the Scaffold and in the U.S. originally as Frantic, later as Elevator to the Gallows). A taut thriller featuring an original score by Miles Davis, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud made an international film star of Jeanne Moreau, at the time a leading stage actress of the Comédie-Française. Malle was 24 years old.

Malle's The Lovers (Les Amants, 1958), which also starred Moreau, caused major controversy due to its sexual content, leading to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case about the legal definition of obscenity. In Jacobellis v. Ohio, a theater owner was fined $2,500 for obscenity. The Supreme Court overturned the decision, finding that the film was not obscene and hence constitutionally protected. But the court could not agree on a definition of "obscene", with Justice Potter Stewart famously saying, "I know it when I see it".

Malle is sometimes associated with the nouvelle vague, but his work does not directly fit in with or correspond to the auteurist theories that apply to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer and others, and he had nothing to do with Cahiers du cinéma. But Malle's work does exemplify some of the movement's characteristics, such as using natural light and shooting on location, and his film Zazie dans le Métro (Zazie in the Metro, 1960, an adaptation of the Raymond Queneau novel) inspired Truffaut to write Malle an enthusiastic letter.

Other films also tackled taboo subjects: The Fire Within centers on a man about to commit suicide, Le souffle au cœur (1971) deals with an incestuous relationship between mother and son, and Lacombe, Lucien (1974), co-written with Patrick Modiano, is about collaboration with the Nazis in Vichy France during World War II. The second of these earned Malle his first (of three) Oscar nominations for "Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced".

Documentary on India

Malle visited India in 1968, and made the seven-part documentary series L'Inde fantôme: Reflexions sur un voyage and the documentary film Calcutta, which was released in cinemas.[5] Concentrating on real India, its rituals and festivities, Malle fell afoul of the Indian government, which disliked his portrayal of the country, in its fascination with the pre-modern, and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years.[6] Malle later said his documentary on India was his favorite film.[6]

Move to the U.S.

Malle later moved to the United States and continued to direct there. His later films include Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1980), My Dinner with Andre (1981), Crackers (1984), Alamo Bay (1985), Damage (1992) and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya) in English; and Au revoir les enfants (1987) and Milou en Mai (May Fools in the U.S., 1990) in French. Just as his earlier films such as The Lovers helped popularize French films in the U.S., My Dinner with Andre was at the forefront of the rise of American independent cinema in the 1980s.

Towards the end of his life, cultural correspondent Melinda Camber Porter interviewed Malle extensively for The Times. In 1993, the interviews were included in her book Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections On Contemporary French Arts And Culture.

Personal life

Malle was married to actress Anne-Marie Deschodt from 1965 to 1967. He later had a son, Manuel Cuotemoc Malle (born 1971), with German actress Gila von Weitershausen, and a daughter, filmmaker Justine Malle (born 1974), with Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart.[7]

Malle married actress Candice Bergen in 1980. They had one child, Chloé Françoise Malle, on 8 November 1985.[8] Malle died of lymphoma, aged 63, at their home in Beverly Hills, California, on November 23, 1995.[9]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes
1953 Crazeologie Yes Yes Short film
1954 Station 307 Yes Yes Yes Short film; Also cinematographer
1958 Elevator to the Gallows Yes Yes
1958 The Lovers Yes
1960 Zazie in the Metro Yes Yes Yes
1962 A Very Private Affair Yes Yes Yes Appeared as a journalist
1963 The Fire Within Yes Yes
1965 Viva Maria! Yes Yes
1967 The Thief of Paris Yes Yes
1968 Spirits of the Dead Yes Yes Segment: "William Wilson"
1969 A Very Curious Girl Yes Appeared as Jésus
1971 Murmur of the Heart Yes Yes
1974 Lacombe, Lucien Yes Yes Yes
1975 Black Moon Yes Yes
1978 Pretty Baby Yes Yes
1980 Atlantic City Yes
1981 My Dinner with Andre Yes
1984 Crackers Yes
1985 Alamo Bay Yes Yes
1987 Au revoir les enfants Yes Yes Yes
1990 May Fools Yes Yes Yes
1992 La Vie de Bohème Yes Appeared in a cameo
1992 Damage Yes Yes
1994 Vanya on 42nd Street Yes Yes

Documentary films

Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes
1956 The Silent World Yes Co-directed with Jacques Cousteau
1962 Vive le Tour Yes Yes Yes Also cinematographer
1969 Calcutta Yes Yes Yes Also narrator
1973 Human, Too Human Yes
1974 Place de la République Yes Yes Appeared as himself
1976 Close Up Yes Short film
1986 And the Pursuit of Happiness Yes Yes Also cinematographer and narrator

Television

Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes
1964 Bons baisers de Bangkok Yes Short film
1969 Phantom India Yes Yes Miniseries; Also narrator
1985 God's Country Yes Yes Also cinematographer and narrator
1994 Murphy Brown Yes Appeared as himself; Episode: "My Movie with Louis"

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ [1] February 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Where to begin with Louis Malle". BFI. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  3. ^ "1991 Film Fellowship | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  4. ^ Matsen, Brad (October 5, 2010). Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King. New York: Vintage Books. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-307-27542-4.
  5. ^ [2] April 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b . Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2004-09-17. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  7. ^ "Louis Malle - Films & Bio". newwavefilm.com. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  8. ^ Bergen, Candice (7 April 2015). A Fine Romance. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-684-80827-7.
  9. ^ Severo, Richard (25 November 1995). "Louis Malle, Film Director Equally at Home in France and America, Is Dead at 63". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  10. ^ . MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  11. ^ "The 47th Academy Awards (1975) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  12. ^ "Berlinale: 1984 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

Further reading

External links

louis, malle, louis, marie, malle, french, october, 1932, november, 1995, french, film, director, screenwriter, producer, worked, both, french, cinema, hollywood, described, eclectic, filmmaker, difficult, down, malle, made, documentaries, romances, period, dr. Louis Marie Malle French lwi mal 30 October 1932 23 November 1995 was a French film director screenwriter and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood Described as eclectic and a filmmaker difficult to pin down Malle made documentaries romances period dramas and thrillers He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter 2 Louis MalleBornLouis Marie Malle 1 1932 10 30 30 October 1932Thumeries Nord FranceDied23 November 1995 1995 11 23 aged 63 Beverly Hills California U S Alma materSciences PoLa FemisOccupationsFilm directorscreenwriterproducerYears active1953 1995Spouse s Anne Marie Deschodt m 1965 div 1967 wbr Candice Bergen m 1980 wbr Children3Malle s most famous works include the crime thriller Elevator to the Gallows 1958 the romantic drama The Lovers 1958 the World War II drama Lacombe Lucien 1974 the period drama Pretty Baby 1978 the romantic crime film Atlantic City 1980 the dramedy My Dinner with Andre 1981 and the autobiographical Au revoir les enfants 1987 He also co directed the landmark underwater documentary The Silent World with Jacques Cousteau which won the 1956 Palme d Or and the 1957 Academy Award for Best Documentary Malle is one of only four directors to have won the Golden Lion twice His other accolades include three Cesars two BAFTAs and three Oscar nominations He was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1991 3 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Documentary on India 2 2 Move to the U S 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 4 1 Feature films 4 2 Documentary films 4 3 Television 5 Awards and nominations 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksEarly life EditMalle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries Nord France the son of Francoise Beghin and Pierre Malle 4 During World War II Malle attended a Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau As an 11 year old he witnessed a Gestapo raid on the school in which three Jewish students including his close friend and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz The school s headmaster Pere Jacques was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen Malle depicted these events in his autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants 1987 As a young man Malle studied political science at Sciences Po from 1950 to 1952 some sources incorrectly state that he studied at the Sorbonne before turning to film studies at IDHEC Career EditMalle worked as co director and cameraman with Jacques Cousteau on the documentary The Silent World 1956 which won an Oscar and the Palme d Or at the 1956 Academy Awards and Cannes Film Festival respectively He assisted Robert Bresson on A Man Escaped Un condamne a mort s est echappe ou Le vent souffle ou il veut 1956 before making his first feature Ascenseur pour l echafaud in 1957 released in the U K as Lift to the Scaffold and in the U S originally as Frantic later as Elevator to the Gallows A taut thriller featuring an original score by Miles Davis Ascenseur pour l echafaud made an international film star of Jeanne Moreau at the time a leading stage actress of the Comedie Francaise Malle was 24 years old Malle s The Lovers Les Amants 1958 which also starred Moreau caused major controversy due to its sexual content leading to a landmark U S Supreme Court case about the legal definition of obscenity In Jacobellis v Ohio a theater owner was fined 2 500 for obscenity The Supreme Court overturned the decision finding that the film was not obscene and hence constitutionally protected But the court could not agree on a definition of obscene with Justice Potter Stewart famously saying I know it when I see it Malle is sometimes associated with the nouvelle vague but his work does not directly fit in with or correspond to the auteurist theories that apply to the work of Jean Luc Godard Francois Truffaut Claude Chabrol Eric Rohmer and others and he had nothing to do with Cahiers du cinema But Malle s work does exemplify some of the movement s characteristics such as using natural light and shooting on location and his film Zazie dans le Metro Zazie in the Metro 1960 an adaptation of the Raymond Queneau novel inspired Truffaut to write Malle an enthusiastic letter Other films also tackled taboo subjects The Fire Within centers on a man about to commit suicide Le souffle au cœur 1971 deals with an incestuous relationship between mother and son and Lacombe Lucien 1974 co written with Patrick Modiano is about collaboration with the Nazis in Vichy France during World War II The second of these earned Malle his first of three Oscar nominations for Best Writing Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced Documentary on India Edit Malle visited India in 1968 and made the seven part documentary series L Inde fantome Reflexions sur un voyage and the documentary film Calcutta which was released in cinemas 5 Concentrating on real India its rituals and festivities Malle fell afoul of the Indian government which disliked his portrayal of the country in its fascination with the pre modern and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years 6 Malle later said his documentary on India was his favorite film 6 Move to the U S Edit Malle later moved to the United States and continued to direct there His later films include Pretty Baby 1978 Atlantic City 1980 My Dinner with Andre 1981 Crackers 1984 Alamo Bay 1985 Damage 1992 and Vanya on 42nd Street 1994 an adaptation of Anton Chekhov s play Uncle Vanya in English and Au revoir les enfants 1987 and Milou en Mai May Fools in the U S 1990 in French Just as his earlier films such as The Lovers helped popularize French films in the U S My Dinner with Andre was at the forefront of the rise of American independent cinema in the 1980s Towards the end of his life cultural correspondent Melinda Camber Porter interviewed Malle extensively for The Times In 1993 the interviews were included in her book Through Parisian Eyes Reflections On Contemporary French Arts And Culture Personal life EditMalle was married to actress Anne Marie Deschodt from 1965 to 1967 He later had a son Manuel Cuotemoc Malle born 1971 with German actress Gila von Weitershausen and a daughter filmmaker Justine Malle born 1974 with Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart 7 Malle married actress Candice Bergen in 1980 They had one child Chloe Francoise Malle on 8 November 1985 8 Malle died of lymphoma aged 63 at their home in Beverly Hills California on November 23 1995 9 Filmography EditFeature films Edit Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes1953 Crazeologie Yes Yes Short film1954 Station 307 Yes Yes Yes Short film Also cinematographer1958 Elevator to the Gallows Yes Yes1958 The Lovers Yes1960 Zazie in the Metro Yes Yes Yes1962 A Very Private Affair Yes Yes Yes Appeared as a journalist1963 The Fire Within Yes Yes1965 Viva Maria Yes Yes1967 The Thief of Paris Yes Yes1968 Spirits of the Dead Yes Yes Segment William Wilson 1969 A Very Curious Girl Yes Appeared as Jesus1971 Murmur of the Heart Yes Yes1974 Lacombe Lucien Yes Yes Yes1975 Black Moon Yes Yes1978 Pretty Baby Yes Yes1980 Atlantic City Yes1981 My Dinner with Andre Yes1984 Crackers Yes1985 Alamo Bay Yes Yes1987 Au revoir les enfants Yes Yes Yes1990 May Fools Yes Yes Yes1992 La Vie de Boheme Yes Appeared in a cameo1992 Damage Yes Yes1994 Vanya on 42nd Street Yes YesDocumentary films Edit Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes1956 The Silent World Yes Co directed with Jacques Cousteau1962 Vive le Tour Yes Yes Yes Also cinematographer1969 Calcutta Yes Yes Yes Also narrator1973 Human Too Human Yes1974 Place de la Republique Yes Yes Appeared as himself1976 Close Up Yes Short film1986 And the Pursuit of Happiness Yes Yes Also cinematographer and narratorTelevision Edit Year Title Director Writer Producer Other Notes1964 Bons baisers de Bangkok Yes Short film1969 Phantom India Yes Yes Miniseries Also narrator1985 God s Country Yes Yes Also cinematographer and narrator1994 Murphy Brown Yes Appeared as himself Episode My Movie with Louis Awards and nominations EditLe Monde du silence 1956 Cannes Film Festival Palme d Or Winner The Lovers 1958 Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize Winner Le Feu follet 1963 Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize Winner Venice Film Festival Italian Film Critics Award Winner The Thief of Paris 1967 5th Moscow International Film Festival official selection 10 Calcutta 1969 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Melbourne International Film Festival Grand Prix Winner Murmur of the Heart 1971 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nomination Lacombe Lucien 1974 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nomination 11 Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination BAFTA Best Foreign Language Film Winner British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director Nomination Pretty Baby 1978 Cannes Film Festival Technical Grand Prize Winner Atlantic City 1981 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner Academy Award for Best Director Nomination Academy Award for Best Picture Nomination Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination Golden Globes Best Director Nomination BAFTA Best Director Winner Crackers 1984 Berlin Film Festival Official Selection 12 Goodbye Children 1987 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner Venice Film Festival OCIC Award Winner Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nomination Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nomination Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination BAFTA Best Director Winner BAFTA Best Film Nomination BAFTA Best Screenplay Nomination Cesar Awards Best Film Winner Cesar Awards Best Director Winner Cesar Awards Best Screenplay Winner European Film Awards Best Screenwriter Winner European Film Awards Best Film Nomination European Film Awards Best Director Nomination May Fools 1990 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Film NominationReferences Edit 1 Archived February 8 2015 at the Wayback Machine Where to begin with Louis Malle BFI Retrieved 2021 11 04 1991 Film Fellowship BAFTA Awards awards bafta org Retrieved 2021 11 04 Matsen Brad October 5 2010 Jacques Cousteau The Sea King New York Vintage Books p 129 ISBN 978 0 307 27542 4 2 Archived April 16 2009 at the Wayback Machine a b BBC iPlayer Bbc co uk Archived from the original on 2004 09 17 Retrieved 2015 12 01 Louis Malle Films amp Bio newwavefilm com Retrieved 22 July 2015 Bergen Candice 7 April 2015 A Fine Romance New York Simon amp Schuster p 5 ISBN 978 0 684 80827 7 Severo Richard 25 November 1995 Louis Malle Film Director Equally at Home in France and America Is Dead at 63 The New York Times Retrieved 19 July 2015 5th Moscow International Film Festival 1967 MIFF Archived from the original on 16 January 2013 Retrieved 9 December 2012 The 47th Academy Awards 1975 Nominees and Winners oscars org Retrieved 10 December 2011 Berlinale 1984 Programme berlinale de Retrieved 26 November 2010 Further reading EditBillard Pierre 2003 Louis Malle Le rebel solitaire Paris Plon ISBN 2 259 19243 2 French Philip ed 1992 Malle on Malle London Faber and Faber ISBN 0 571 16237 1 Frey Hugo 2004 Louis Malle Manchester Manchester University Press ISBN 0 719 06456 2 Southern Nathan Weissgerber Jacques 2005 The Films of Louis Malle A Critical Analysis Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 0 786 42300 5 External links EditLouis Malle at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Louis Malle amp oldid 1150364871, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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