Monday, April 20, 2009

Le Feu Follet.


"The Fire Within" is a Louis Malle film from 1963. It is based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. The film stars Maurice Ronet as Alain Leroy, a recovering alcoholic at a rehabilitation clinic in Versailles who suffers from depression. He decides to end his life, but first decides to visit his friends in Paris one last time, in an attempt at finding a reason to continue living. It is dark and funny and like most french films of the time, dripping with style. These french realism films are so much better than the melodramatic acting style films hollywood was producing at and before this time. I connect to these stories much more than the American films of the same period.

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