Lacombe Lucien

Lacombe Lucien is an understated yet complex story of innocence corrupted by war. Though commercially successful, the film was judged harshly in France by critics on the Left because of its non-judgmental stance toward collaboration. Indeed, the film offers no psychological interpretations but is content to simply show what happened in almost Bressonian fashion (Malle worked as an assistant with Bresson in producing a documentary).

Based on the childhood memories of Louis Malle, Lacombe Lucien tells the story of Lucien (Pierre Blaise) a rural French teenager who, having been rejected by the French resistance in 1944, joins with the German occupiers and becomes an enforcer. It is brilliant in its understated portrait of how self-interest and pride can lead to regrettable choices.

Lucien lives with his mother together with another man while his father remains a prisoner of war. With limited education and lacking sophistication, Lucien is angered when his desire to join the underground is rejected because of his youth. Instead, he opportunistically becomes a member of the German police and soon takes on the persona of a surly thug. Malle makes clear that Lucien is neither fundamentally good nor bad, but only becomes involved with the Gestapo through a series of accidental circumstances. Though the film implies that Lucien is attracted to the Gestapo as a means for an individual without status or power to achieve a sense of self worth, ultimately Lucien must take responsibility for his choice.

He becomes involved with Albert Horn (Holger Lowenadler), a wealthy Jewish tailor from Paris, his mother Bella (Therese Giehse) who has lived in an Eastern European ghetto, and his young daughter France (Aurore Clement) who is totally Parisian and uncomfortable with her Jewish heritage. Their relationship becomes the turning point for Lucien's struggle to come to grips with who he is and retain his humanity. Though I felt repelled by Lucien's actions during the film, I also sympathized with his plight and understood the circumstances that led to his corruption. I felt he was moving toward self-awareness before the end of the film.

Lacombe Lucien poses moral questions about the point that innocence and immorality meet, and with its almost matter-of-fact style, the powerful conclusion almost takes us unaware. I found the film to be gripping and heartfelt and I would strongly recommend it. Pierre Blaise, in his first acting role as Lucien, turns in a performance of raw power. Unfortunately he was killed just one year later in an auto accident at the age of 24.

When this movie was released in 1974, it created a huge scandal and strong controversies because it was the first movie about the second world war to introduce a collaborator and not a resistant as a main character. Louis Malle was surely affected by these controversies and he decided to escape into the dream and imagination in his next film: the odd and underrated "Black Moon". So the main character here, Lucien Lacombe, is a member of the German police but he didn't choose this situation because he is anti-semitic or he's fond of Nazi thesis. It's simply because he is a victim of his naivety and of his foolishness and he's easy to persuade. Several times in the movie, you are under the impression that he doesn't know what he's doing or saying (for example, when he's drinking champagne with Albert Horn, a Jew tailor and his daughter France). On the other hand, the stroke is responsible of Lucien's entrance in the collaboration: the school teacher doesn't want him to enter the Resistance because he's too young, he had a flat tyre.... Moreover, the action takes place in june 1944 and it's not the right era: it's nearly the end of the war I also noticed that the collaborators were initiating him into several activities (at one moment, one of them is learning him to fire with a browning) without taking care of his opinion. With all these happenings, Lucien's behaviour is changing: he becomes rough, haughty, scornful, takes advantage of his wealthy life and committs a few errors ( Horn is under arrest due to him and he didn't want it to happen). At the end, Pierre Blaise provides a great calibre in his main rôle and thanks to this, the film is strong, powerful and remain one of Malle's best films.

Note: the movie was inspired by a real fact: during the second world war in France, a young collaborator had arrested and killed numerous resistants.

Of all of the hundreds of foreign films I've seen through my 42 years, one has stood out in mind – a film I first saw in 1979 and again in 1980. "Lacombe, Lucien," director Louis Malle's searing, powerful film of innocence lost and how power corrupts, is one of the great films in French cinema. That the French themselves criticized the film on its initial release is amazing. That this film has gone for so long without a proper DVD release is unforgivable. The drought of its release to home video is about to end. The Criterion Collection is releasing "Lacombe, Lucien" as part of a three film box set retrospective on Mallle's French films ("Au Revoir Les Infant" and "Murmus of the Heart," two great Malle's features in their own right). "Lacombe, Lucien" also will be available separately by itself. Either way, modern American audiences will finally be able to see this film. And they won't be disappointed. Malle's film tells the story about a young French boy who joins the Nazis and snubs the French Resistance during the German occupation of France. From the powerful performances all the way to Malle's meticulous production design that beautifully recreates period France, this film is unbeatable. As much as I enjoy watching Truffaut films, nothing compares to the genius of Malle. From his French films to his American productions, Malle truly was a genius of the cinema. I suggest you buy the three-film retrospective. Or at the least, but "Lacombe Lucien."

Louis Malle is a master of representing human behavior in a believable manner. By avoiding stereotypical characters, the director maintains a more intense level of suspense due to the unpredictability of the main protagonists. All the performances are excellent especially Pierre Blaise and Aurore Clement as Lucien and France. In my old age, I find French and Italian films present women in a much more interesting and appealing manner than American films where they tend to be little more than eye candy or character studies with minimal sensuality. Virginia Madsen's portrayal of Maya in Sideways is one of the few American performances that can compare with Aurore Clement as France or Jeanne Moreau in Le Notte. Male European directors undoubtedly have a better and more mature understanding of the female psyche. The untimely death of Pierre Blaise shorty after the completion of this film only adds to the importance of this work since he displays a unique talent which was tragically cut short. Weaknesses in the film are a limited portrayal of the resistance fighters and a truncated ending which did not segue well with the final scene.

I think this film was the one that really opened my eyes as to just how horrible life was in France under the German occupation and led to my great interest in almost any film depicting the era, or even better, newsreels.

A young man develops the power of life or death over others by "accidentally" joining the Gestapo-even the French police are forced to defer to him. We see the casual brutality of the French Gestapo, the tell-tale denunciation letters, the deportation of Jews.

An excellent portrait of how unpleasant everyday life could be under the occupation-a fascinatingly horrible historical period.