Amants, Les (1958)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writer:

Louise de Vilmorin (dialogue)

Release Date:

26 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The most talked-about and fought-about film!

Plot:

Bored with her husband, bored with her polo-playing lover, will the middle-aged heroine go away with...

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Husband Wife Relationship | Workaholic | Secret Lover | Polo

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeanne Moreau	...	Jeanne Tournier
Alain Cuny	...	Henri Tournier
José Luis de Villalonga	...	Raoul Flores (as José Villalonga)
Jean-Marc Bory	...	Bernard Dubois-Lambert
Judith Magre	...	Maggy Thiebaut-Leroy
Gaston Modot	...	Coudray
Michèle Girardon	...	La secrétaire
Claude Mansard	...	Marcelot
Georgette Lobre	...	Marthe
Patricia Maurin	...	Catherine, fille de Jeanne
Lucienne Hamon	...	Chantal
Pierre Frag
Gib Grossac

Also Known As:

The Lovers (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Burgundy, France

Company:

Nouvelles Éditions de Films

Trivia:

After screening this film, Nico Jacobellis, manager of a motion picture theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was charged with and convicted of possessing and exhibiting an obscene film. He appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which overturned the convictions, ruling that the film was not obscene. In a concurring opinion, Justice Potter Stewart made his famous pronouncement concerning what was pornography: "I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)

Soundtrack:

Streichsextett No. 1

Insipid mess, go get some Bergman

This is my first Louis Malle film and I found myself really quite disappointed. One of the other posters says that the theme is about freedom and uncertainty. I would agree with this, but to be blunt a better way to learn about the subject would be to listen to the Brahms' String Sextets without the film.

Jeanne Moreau has been described in this movie as inscrutable, I'd agree with that, in this film we find out absolutely nothing of interest about her character, and I'm left perplexed as to the attraction Bernard had for her (purely libidinous?). The morality of the film is very confusing, certainly we can applaud Jeanne's existential urge to escape from her stifling fling, her marriage, and her Parisienne lifestyle, but the fact that she leaves her daughter behind is execrable. The woodland scenes are intriguing but a bit too contrived. If you want to see films about relationships I would suggest most of the oeuvre of Ingmar Bergman, which is far superior.

All in all a rather insipid, though beautiful, mess. Deserves 7 out of 10 because it is provocative and like all good art, subversive.