Review of The Lovers

While Louis Malle was contemporary with the New Wave of the French cinema, he chose to use much more classical means of expression and is not considered to be part of movement. Yet, his films do have something different in their stylish approach to the life and romance of the French middle and upper class and this film is one of the best examples. He is closer to Bunuel than to Truffaut or Agnes Varda. Half a century after the controversy the film screening generated in the United States, half a century in which all taboos about representing sexuality on screen were broken, one wonders what is left of value in this film. The impression I was left with is pretty much mixed. The story has a level of simplicity and originality that I liked, with the bored provincial wife living a triangle life, but never satisfied emotionally and finding the true love by chance, in what we call today a one night stand. Yet all the nightly erotic setting seems unrealistic and the presence of a child left behind in the story leaves the viewer with a feeling of uneasiness. It is not that I am a moralist when it comes to judging movies, but the solution of what must be the harshest dilemma for a mother looks now and I believe looked then cheap. Jeanne Moreau is a fantastic actress and is at its best here, but the rest of the cast is far from her, with the exception maybe of Alain Cuny in the role of the husband. A few more style elements like using the music of Brahms or the love scene focusing on the face and ecstasy of the woman give the film a stylish look, but on the other hand the camera work did not survive well the passing of the time, or I may have seen a not to well kept copy and the off-screen commentary - probably from the 18th century original story that inspired the film - sound too didactic and non-cinematographic. Overall 'Les Amants' stays as a milestone in the history of the cinema but not necessary a good contemporary piece of entertainment for the viewer of today.