Louis Malle

by Hugo Frey

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.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 27, 2004