Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p31

23/10/2014 17:48 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p31

  23/10/2014 17:48 par tellurikwaves

A Film Noir Masterwork - Breathtaking to the Eye and the Ear

Author: noralee from Queens, NY
29 August 2005
 

"Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud)" is a master work, so it's startling to learn that it was Louis Malle's first feature. It's a mother lode textbook of how-to for noir genre filmmakers as he creates his own style from what he's learned from other masters.

Malle pays tribute to the tense murder style of Hitchcock with Billy Wilder's cynicism of selfishness a la "Double Indemnity" plus Graham Greene-like, post-war politics from "The Third Man"-- and arms and oil dealers with military pasts in the Middle East are not outdated let alone adulterous lovers and rebellious teenagers.

The film drips with sex and violence without actually showing either -- sensuous Jeanne Moreau walking through a long, rainy Paris night is enough to incite both.

The black and white cinematography by Henri Decaë is breathtakingly beautiful in this newly struck 35 mm print, from smokey cafés with ever watchful eyes like ours to the titular, ironic alibi's long shafts (which surely must have inspired a key, far paler scene in "Speed") to highway lights, to a spare interrogation box, but particularly in the street scenes. The coincidences and clues are built up, step by step, visually, including the final damning evidence.

Miles Davis's improvisations gloriously and agitatedly burst forth as if pouring from the cafés and radios, but the bulk of the film is startlingly silent, except for ambient sounds like rain that adds to the tension in the plot.

The characters are archetypes -- the steely ex-Legonnaire, the James Dean and Natalie Wood imitators, the preening prosecutor -- that fit together in a marvelous puzzle. But all are cool besides Moreau's fire, as she dominates the look of the film, just wandering around Paris.

There is some dialog that doesn't quite make sense at the end, but, heck, neither does "The Big Sleep" and this is at least in that league, if not higher in the pantheon.

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This film is a master piece. Miles Davis's music is superb. It is an object lesson on the art of combining sound and vision. The tension and the brooding Parisian atmosphere are heightened with cool and poignant playing. It is surprising (to the best of my knowledge) that this is the only complete original film score he produced.

The story of the crime is clever. It has reasonable human motivation and plot, and is steadily revealed. But, it is the study of 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time' that makes this film a classic. The series of chance events that will dramatically effect the characters' lives, give this film a similar feel to 'Run Lola Run' or 'Irreversible', dispute this film's linear structure and age. The dark cinematography is excellent.

I have only had an opportunity to see it once (I only just caught it because BBC4 listed it under its English title), but I would like to see it again.

The soundtrack is widely available, but I can not find the film on DVD or PAL VHS. This film should be available to a wider audience, for me, preferably in French with English subtitles.

P.S. This wonderful film is now available on DVD as part of the Louis Malle Collection: Volume 1. (Updated 11/10/2006.)

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(Possible Spoiler!)

The atmosphere of 1950's Paris, a truly beautiful actress, a well-balanced plot and the ultimate Jazz soundtrack, recorded in one go by Miles Davis.

The 1958 Louis Malle masterpiece, more than 40 years later, is still one of the best police films ever, Hollywood included. If only more films could seek inspiration from it!

Every moment, from the time the nearly perfect crime is committed to the end, oozes with elegant Parisian sophistication and beauty, and artful camera work. The silences, punctuated with Davis' magnificent trumpet playing, gives the audience time to breathe without reaching boredom. The overall relatively slow pace is actually enthralling. Tension rises as the main protagonists gradually travel to their scaffold. As they finally are arrested and led to their cruel fate, one cannot but feel pity and even sympathy for the killer couple, for such is the sense of involvement that Malle manages to pass on to the audience.

The absence of the now necessary action scenes is also wonderfully refreshing, and the plot is thorough and intelligent.

"Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud" is masterpiece and reference in "Film Noir" type films. It is, along with "Aurevoir les Enfants" undoubtedly a Louis Malle "Chef d'Oeuvre".

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Elevator to the Gallows is a great film and even better, has a short running time! The acting is great in every instance, the plot is original, and the direction is probably among the best I've ever seen. I loved how the plot had a lot of twists but there weren't so many that you were confused as to what was going on. Although I won't reveal the ending, I thought it was great and made me smile. However, you have to like this type of movie to see it, as it is kind of complicated and there isn't a ton of action. This film shows how the perfect murder can be only planned so well; you can never plan what could happen. If you don't get bored too easily, stick with this gem and I'm sure you'll love it.

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Louis Malle was all of 25 when he made his directorial debut with this 1958 noirish thriller that also serves as a morality play. Using the elevator of the title as a vehicle for his leitmotif, he does an admirable job of capturing the smoky gray atmosphere of Paris in the 1950's and using it to great cinematic effect on a chain-link story of deception and murder. In fact, the whole movie plays like a Francophile version of a James M. Cain novel times two with plot twists coming in quick and sometimes contrived succession. To its credit, the brief 92-minute running time trots by quickly given the multiple story lines.

The labyrinth story focuses first on illicit lovers Florence Carala, the restless wife of a corrupt arms dealer, and Julien Tavernier, a former war hero working for Florence's husband. There is not a wasted moment as they plot her husband's murder, but of course, things go awry with a forgotten piece of evidence and a running car ready to be taken. An amoral young couple, sullen and resentful Louis and free-spirited Veronique, enter the scene tangentially and get caught up in their own deceptions with a boisterous German couple whom they meet through a fender bender. The plot strands meander somewhat and eventually come together in a climax that has all the characters confronting the harsh reality of their past actions. There is a particular poignancy in the photos Florence sees at the end since we have no indication of the depth of emotion between the lovers otherwise.

Malle, along with co-screenwriter Roger Nimier, presents an interesting puzzle full of irony and chance events, but there is a periodic slackness to the suspense, for instance, Florence's endlessly despondent walk though nocturnal Paris. Jazz great Miles Davis contributes a fitting hipster score, though the music is not as big an element as I expected in setting the mood. With her sorrowful eyes and pouting intelligence, Jeanne Moreau makes a vivid impression as Florence and gives her obsessed character the necessary gravitas to make her journey worthy of our interest. Maurice Ronet effectively plays Julien like a coiled spring throughout, and it's intriguing to note how most of his performance takes place in an immobilized elevator. As Louis and Veronique, Georges Poujuloy and the especially pixyish Yori Bertin are the forerunners for the runaway pair in Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" replete with youthful angst and mercenary cool.

The print transfer on the 2006 Criterion Collection DVD package is wonderfully pristine. The first disc also contains the original and 2005 re-release trailers, though there is surprisingly no scholarly audio commentary track (the usual bonus for a Criterion release). The second disc, however, makes up for it with a bevy of extras starting with an extensive 1975 early career retrospective interview with Malle, a 2005 interview with an aged but still haunting Moreau, and a joint interview with the two icons and one-time lovers at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Three shorts on the second disc focus on Davis's contribution - the six-minute "The Record Session" shot the night Davis and his musicians recorded the score; a remembrance piece with pianist Rene Utreger, the only surviving member of Davis's ensemble; and the celebratory "Miles Goes Modal: The Breakthrough Score to Elevator to the Gallows" where jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis and music critic Gary Giddins discuss Davis's influence over the generation of musicians to come. There is also a short by Malle set to Charlie Parker's "Crazeology" and an informative 25-page photo essay booklet.

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The former Captain Julien Tavernier (Maurice Ronet) works in the company of the powerful arms dealer Simon Carala (Jean Wall) and is the lover of his wife Florence Carala (Jeanne Moreau). Julien and Florence plot a scheme to kill Simon simulating a suicide. Julien stays after-hours in the company with the telephone operator and the doorman and comes to his office. He climbs to Simon's office using a rope outside the window and kills the executive. He runs to his office to attend a phone call and forgets the rope, and leaves the building with the two employees to have an alibi. When he is ready to drive his car, he sees the rope hanging outside the building and he returns to withdraw the rope, leaving his overcoat and revolver in the car. When he enters in the lift, the doorman shutdown the building and Julien is trapped inside the elevator.

Meanwhile the smalltime thief Louis (Georges Poujouly) steals Julien's car and drives to a motel with his girlfriend Véronique (Yori Bertin) and lodge using the name of Julien. They drink with the German tourists Horst Bencker (Iván Petrovich) and his wife Frieda Bencker (Elga Andersen) and early in the morning, Louis tries to steal his Mercedes Benz. When he is surprised by Horst, Louis shots and kills the couple. Julien Tavernier becomes the prime suspect of the murder and when he leaves the lift, he does not have alibi for the murder of Simon Carala and the German tourists.

"Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud" is the first feature of Louis Malle, who is also one of the writers. The unpredictable and original story is fantastic, the screenplay has many plot points until the very last scene and the performances are top-notch.

Julien Tavernier is a methodic military with cold blood that gets caught between the rock and a hard place due to a mistake and lots of bad luck. The soundtrack with the music of Miles Davis gives a touch of class to this little masterpiece. The result is one of the best thrillers entwined with comedy of errors that I have ever seen. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Ascensor Para o Cadafalso" ("Elevator to the Gallows")

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I've only seen a couple of other of Louis Malle's films, but I'm sure I'll want to see more after getting to see this in its revival in theaters. It's an ironic, tense, a little aloof and engrossing thriller that plays on a couple of expectations if not all. At times I almost felt like I was watching a darker, dramatic French-noir version of Curb Your Enthusiasm; you're cringing in your seat at times because everything, at least for the first hour, seems realistic, and the inter-cutting between the three plot-lines (Julien in the elevator, Florence on the streets, the lovers-on-the-run at the Motel). You know something bad will happen, as par for the style Malle is working in (it's his first film, one can/can't tell if they didn't know beforehand). But it interested me, and kept me in my seat, how I knew things may unravel as they should in these films, and I found myself having to root for someone in a sea of anti-heroes.

I mention Curb Your Enthusiasm as there is a sort of everyday occurrence that basically kicks off the plot (in tune with the genius title of the film), as Julien Tavaneur gets stuck in an elevator after getting rid of Florence Carala's rich husband (Moreau's character). Two kids, one more dangerous (if a little inexplicable, Louis) than the other, steal his car and stay at a Motel, where they meet a genial German tourist. Out of bad luck (as it is a running theme of the play), he kills the German, and things get more out of hand for everybody. In fact, the plot is rather thin, leaving room for a) suspense tenseness in the elevator scenes (and later in the interrogation scene, superbly lit), b) narrative musings by the calm Moreau, or c) troubles of the kids. These narratives are handled well, along with the typical police procedural, and it leads up to an ending that may not necessarily have a message to it.

It can't be as pat as 'crime doesn't pay'. Moreau, in a classy close-up, says things that struck a chord with me, as did many parts of the film. It may be fate, as par for the naturalism, but is there something behind the cool veneer? The only downside for me was with the performance of the actor who played Louis. I didn't think he gave enough to what is indeed a rather small-minded character. The actress who plays his girlfriend fares fine, but he is one of the keys to the film, and I felt a little uneasy watching some of his scenes later on in the film. But still, any fault(s) I had with the film were minuscule when looking at how it is overall. This is one of those films that for pretty much the whole way through had me in its grip; I've rarely felt that watching a 'film-noir' before, but I did feel a very small kinship to another love/lust/cold-murder film, Blood Simple, which leaped off of some of the conventions we all know and admire in these films.

And the contribution from Miles Davis, who is to 'cool' as the Beatles are to love & peace, can't be over-estimated. If Moreau gives the film a kind of downtrodden, wandering and wondering soul, and Malle gives the right look of the film with the great Henri (Le Samourai) Decae as DP, Davis backs up everything else. Sometimes his fast, overwhelming notes come through (mostly as on-the-set background music), and his slower music is landmark stuff, but what's surprising is that he can also add suspense, like to the elevator and interrogation scenes, and the mood is inescapable. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few filmmakers who saw this film were inspired by Malle's use of free-flow jazz to add to the 'cool-ness' of the picture (not that he was the first of course, but it can be spotted in many films, in particular Herrmann's score for Taxi Driver). I have a feeling this may be the kind of film that will play better on multiple viewings, and for now I'm content to say it was a very well-spent trip.

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I have seen several movies where a movie was very interesting at the time it was filmed, but is barely watchable today if not funny because of technological obsoleteness. This is not one of them. The plot is very interesting and is not at all predictable, making me wonder why it was not copied by later movies. This movie made me proud of myself for going to that art cinema without knowing anything about it, and watching it with a few other poor souls who had nothing else to do on a Friday afternoon. Definitely the best b/w movie and the best French movie I have seen, and one of the best films I have seen in the past 5 years.

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Greetings again from the darkness. The phrase Film Noir conjures up a certain feel and look and "Gallows" certainly captures what we have come to expect from the genre. However, the great director Louis Malle goes even further with his minimalistic approach to sound, lighting and dialog. Where 1944's "Double Indemnity" wreaks explosive on screen passion, Malle offers up a quiet simmering that draws the viewer into the lives of the main characters.

Jeanne Moreau is the perfect pouty French femme fatale. Her scenes of walking (wandering) the dark, rainy streets of Paris are chilling to watch for film lovers. The weak lighting and lack of make-up allow Moreau's true emotions to guide us. Malle also is tremendous in his filming of the elevator scenes with Maurice Ronet.

The secondary characters of the young lovers played by Yori Bertin (Veronique) and George Poujouly (Louis) are unmistakable in their likeness to Natalie Wood and James Dean. Watching two young kids carelessly destroy their own lives, as well as that of others, is quite the contrast to the well-conceived scheme of Moreau and Ronet.

I have not been able to come up with an apt description of the powerfully improvised jazz score from the legendary Miles Davis. The approach has been mimicked over the years, but never duplicated. It is startling in its ability to slap the viewer in the face! Moreau is of course a screen legend and went on to star in "Jules and Jim", Truffaut's "The Four Hundred Blows" and my personal favorite, "The Bride Wore Black". As great as she was in all of these, I am not sure her essence was ever better captured than her wandering through the Paris streets in "Elevator to the Gallows".

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Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (AKA: Elevator to the Gallows/Lift to the Scaffold) is directed by Louis Malle and co-written by Malle, Roger Nimier and Noël Calef (novel). It stars Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin and Jean Wall. Music is by Miles Davis and cinematography by Henri Decaë.

A little ole devil this one, a sly slow pacer that itches away at your skin. Rightly seen as a bridging movie between the classic film noir cycle and the nouvelle vague, Malle's movie is in truth straightforward on narrative terms. Julien Tavernier (Ronet) is going to kill husband of his lover, Florence Carala (Moreau), who also happens to be his boss, but upon executing the perfect murder, he, through his own absent mindedness, winds up stuck in a lift close to the crime scene. Outside Florence is frantically awaiting his arrival so as to begin their life together in earnest, but when a couple of young lovers steal Julien's car, Florence gets the wrong end of the stick and a sequence of events lead to Julien and Florence hitching that ride to the gallows.

Simplicity of narrative be damned, Malle's movie is a classic case of that mattering not one jot. There is style to burn here, with bleak atmospherics dripping from every frame, and Miles Davis' sultry jazz music hovers over proceedings like a sleazy grim reaper. The ironic twists in the writing come straight off the bus to noirville, putting stings in the tale, the smart reverse of the norm finding Moreau (sensual) wandering the streets looking for her male lover, while elsewhere he's in isolation and a doppleganger murder scenario is cunningly being played out. Decaë's photography has a moody desperation about it that so fits the story, the use of natural light making fellow French film makers sit up and take notice. While the dialogue, and the caustic aside to arms dealings, ensures we know that Malle can be a sly old fox. He really should have done more noir like pictures.

A film that convinces us that Julien and Florence are deeply in love and passionate about each other, and yet they never are once together in the whole movie! It's just one of the many wonderful things about Louis Malle's excellent picture.

Remember folks, the camera never lies... 8/10

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23/10/2014 17:35 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p30

  23/10/2014 17:35 par tellurikwaves

 
(1) Des années plus tard, Louis Malle revoyant le film disait qu’il y avait essayé, « avec maladresse parfois, d’y combiner des admirations sans doute contradictoires pour Bresson, et Hitchcock. »

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(2) Miles Davis à la trompette, Barney Wilen au saxophone ténor, René Urtreger au piano, Pierre Michelot à la contrebasse et Kenny Clarke à la batterie.

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(3) Melville auquel Malle emprunte ici son chef opérateur Henri Decaë,pour une photo -graphie exceptionnelle, présentant une grande diversité de textures, qui demeure l’un des incontestables points forts du film.

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(4) La région parisienne ne comptant aucun établissement de ce type à l'époque, le fameux "motel de Trappes" du film fut trouvé en Normandie

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(5) Dans Le Masque et La Plume du 6 février 1958, Jean de Baroncelli dit du film qu’il est finalement plus intéressant pour ce qu’il laisse entrevoir du talent de Louis Malle que pour ce qu’il est.

Bibliographie
Séverine Allimann, « La Nouvelle Vague a-t-elle changé quelque chose à la musique de cinéma ? : De l’usage du jazz chez Louis Malle et Jean-Luc Godard », 1895 (revue), no 38,? 2002 (lire en ligne)

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23/10/2014 17:29 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR- ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p29

  23/10/2014 17:29 par tellurikwaves

Au début, on jurerait qu’il s’agit d’un garçon brillant, par exemple un ingénieur, un héros de guerre bien sous tous rapports... et puis progressivement, par touches minimes, le film laisse deviner autre chose,une petite frappe,un mercenaire chargé  d’intimider la concurrence industrielle, un assassin régulier peut-être... Le film se garde bien de conclure à son sujet, ménageant ainsi un trouble assez fascinant.

Le film obtint le Prix Louis Delluc 1957 - Malle l’obtint de nouveau 30 ans plus tard pour Au revoir, les enfants - alors que le film suivant du cinéaste, Les Amants, reçut un prix au Festival de Venise... Ces récompenses, régulières, qui jalonneront ainsi la carrière du cinéaste depuis ses débuts jusqu'à son terme, permettent peut-être de mettre un doigt assez subjectif sur ce qui nous semble être l’une des caractéristiques de ce séducteur notoire : à défaut de posséder un style majeur, Malle savait probablement comme peu de cinéastes sentir les courants d’une époque et réaliser le bon film au bon moment,

en anticipant les mouvements sur le point de surgir ou en faisant naître à l’occasion la polémique (Le Souffle au cœur, Lacombe Lucien...). L’impact contextuel de ses films, représentatifs d’un esprit ou d’un temps, doit ainsi être pondéré lors de l’appréhension de sa filmographie, quand bien même leur aspect daté sauterait aux yeux. A cet égard, il convient, malgré ses défauts apparents, de ne pas sous-estimer l’importance historique d’Ascenseur pour l’échafaud.

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23/10/2014 17:22 par tellurikwaves

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  23/10/2014 17:22 par tellurikwaves

 
Pour tout dire, à courir tant de lièvres à la fois, il nous semble parfois qu’Ascenseur pour l’échafaud passe à côté de quelque chose ; prenons cette trame principale concernant Julien, accusé d’un crime qu’il n’a pas commis mais qui l’innocenterait de celui qu’il a réellement perpétué : on rêverait tout simplement de savoir ce que, à la même époque, un Fritz Lang aurait pu faire d’un tel postulat ! Mais à vouloir également raconter une (voire des) histoire(s) d’amour ; traduire l’atmosphère de ces nuits parisiennes ; livrer une critique du modèle consumériste qui fait rêver la jeunesse française ; évoquer le poids lancinent de la guerre sur la société de l’époque... le film donne parfois l’impression d’être dans l’approche de tout ce qu’il aimerait être mais ne parvient finalement qu’à effleurer.

Ce n’est pas, entendons-nous bien, un film basé sur l’esbroufe, un coup d’éclat de petit malin recherchant le tape-à-l’œil ou l’ostentatoire, et il faut certainement reconnaître à Louis Malle une retenue et une rigueur certaine dans la réalisation, mais plutôt, à nos yeux, une œuvre dont les ambitions ont outrepassé la concrétisation. (5) C’est ainsi finalement lorsqu’il ne dit pas du tout, et qu’il laisse l’imaginaire du spectateur faire son travail, qu’il devient le plus stimulant : le personnage de Julien, par exemple, est ainsi habité d’une belle ambigüité.

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23/10/2014 17:18 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p27

  23/10/2014 17:18 par tellurikwaves

Plus globalement, c’est toute la société décrite par Ascenseur pour l’échafaud qui semble, doucement,grignotée par la veulerie et l’individualisme : personne n’aide réellement personne,dans le film, chacun étant trop occupé à satisfaire ses propres objectifs individuels Cela est assez bien,quoique très rapidement,résumé par le personnage de Simon Carala, figure avant l’heure du grand patron siégeant en haut de son immeuble de verre, qui domine un monde dont il n’a que faire si ce n’est tirer profit.

Il va sans dire que cet archétype, sans doute inspiré du cinéma américain, était pour le coup plus rare dans le cinéma français,simplement pour la rareté de tels immeubles dans le Paris des années 50! Plus généralement, Louis Malle, des années plus tard, exprimait d’ailleurs avec une certaine satisfaction le portrait anticipatif que son film dressait de la capitale, presque plus proche des années 60 à venir que de son époque de tournage. (voui...on est juste à 2 ans des 60's quand même)

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23/10/2014 17:01 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p26

  23/10/2014 17:01 par tellurikwaves

Il est d’autant plus dommage que les dialogues pénalisent à ce point, notamment, tout ce qui concerne Louis et Véronique, que le portrait dressé par le film de cette jeunesse est pertinent, féroce, mais aussi moderne : ce sont les chimères de la société consumériste qui les ont éloignés des réalités du monde, et il semblerait ainsi que le beau blouson tout neuf, la belle voiture américaine ou l’appareil photo design aient plus d’importance aux yeux de Véronique que le vol, le meurtre ou le suicide.

A défaut d’avoir des valeurs morales auxquelles se raccrocher, sa vision du monde est réduite à des signes extérieurs directs, essentiellement du registre de l’apparence. Mais en extrapolant un peu, à partir des quelques échanges entre Véronique et Florence (l’une qualifiant l’autre de vieille, l’autre traitant l’une comme une gamine, quand bien même elles n’ont que quelques années d’écart), on pourrait presque avoir l’impression qu’elles reconnaissent l’une en l’autre ce qu’elles étaient ou ce qu’elles pourraient devenir : finalement, Florence a épousé un homme beaucoup plus vieux qu’elle pour assurer sa situation financière, et ensuite pris un bel et jeune amant...

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23/10/2014 16:57 par tellurikwaves

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  23/10/2014 16:57 par tellurikwaves

Yori Bertin : Véronique

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Il semblerait donc que l’un des responsables de ce déséquilibre soit l'adaptateur du récit de Noël Calef, Roger Nimier, un auteur assez en vogue à l’époque pour son aura trouble et son regard pessimiste : de l’aveu même de Louis Malle,Nimier n’avait à peu près aucun sens cinématographique Seul à ses yeux, comptait le verbe. Celui-ci ne manque à l’occasion pas de style mais s’incarne en général fort mal à l’écran, que ce soit dans la bouche de Yori Bertin (« Ils vont nous séparer. Toi tu seras chez les hommes. Moi chez les femmes. Nous ne serons plus ensemble qu’à la première page des journaux »)

ou dans celle de Jeanne Moreau ; pour développer un peu le propos de Jacques Lourcelles dans son dictionnaire, on pourrait presque résumer le problème en disant, en substance, que les comédiens d’Ascenseur pour l’échafaud sont formidables dès qu’ils se taisent. C’est en ce sens Maurice Ronet qui s’en sort le mieux, dans un rôle de solitaire, et la manière dont il occupe l’espace réduit de l’ascenseur lors de ses tentatives pour s’en extraire témoigne de la qualité physique du comédien.

A la fin du film, on voit apparaitre un quasi-débutant nommé Lino Ventura, lequel, avec son intelligence de jeu et une redoutable économie verbale, compose un personnage beaucoup moins vain que la plupart des autres protagonistes, démontrant un peu par l’absurde ce que le film aurait pu être sans ses mots trop encombrants.

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23/10/2014 16:50 par tellurikwaves

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  23/10/2014 16:50 par tellurikwaves

Félix Marten : Christian Subervie affalé sur Jeanne Moreau : Florence Carala

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23/10/2014 16:46 par tellurikwaves

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23/10/2014 16:29 par tellurikwaves

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  Š-DR-ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD de Louis Malle (1958) p22

  23/10/2014 16:29 par tellurikwaves

Et la troisième est franco-française, mais dans les tensions propres au cinéma hexagonal de l’époque : dans son exploration du "milieu" criminel, particulièrement active dans les  années 50, le cinéma français oscille alors entre une tradition "à l’ancienne" (plutôt littéraire, avec des dialogues ciselés maîtrisés par des comédiens de stature et d’expérience)  et une volonté de réinventer le genre, notamment formellement, en y insufflant une forme d’efficacité "à l’américaine".Entre Henri Decoin et Jean-Pierre Melville (3), entre Gilles  Grangier et Jacques Becker, Louis Malle semble parfois naviguer à vue : la première séquence faisant intervenir Julien Tavernier, peut par exemple - toutes  proportions gardées - rappeler l’impressionnant casse central du Rififi chez les hommes de Jules Dassin : muette, elle décrit une préparation méticuleuse, dans laquelle le silence  et le cadre seuls génèrent la tension.

En ce sens, il y a une démarche quasi-béhavioriste chez Malle, qui semble s’interdire de commenter l’action qu’il décrit. Et puis, aux  antipodes, débarquent les monologues intérieurs de Jeanne Moreau, extrêmement (trop) écrits, avec des commentaires comme : « Je t’ai perdu dans cette nuit, Julien. Il fallait te  laisser tranquille, ne pas t’embrasser, ne pas caresser ton visage. Si tu n’as pas tué Simon ; tant pis, si tu as eu peur, tant mieux, mais il faut que tu reviennes, il faut que tu sois là, vivant, à côté de moi, Julien. Il faut. Il faut. Il faut. »