Louis Malle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Louis Malle
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Born |
Louis Marie Malle
30 October 1932 Thumeries, Nord, France
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Died | 23 November 1995 Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
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(aged 63)
Alma mater | Sciences Po La Fémis |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1953–1995 |
Spouse(s) |
Anne-Marie Deschodt
(m. 1965; div. 1967) |
Children | 3 |
Louis Marie Malle (French: [lwi mal]; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down," Malle's filmography encompassed a variety genres that included documentaries, romances, period dramas, and thrillers. He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter.
His most famous works include the crime thriller Elevator to the Gallows (1958), the romantic drama The Lovers (1958), the World War II drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), the period drama Pretty Baby (1978), the romantic crime film Atlantic City (1980), the dramedy My Dinner with Andre (1981), and the autobiographical Au revoir les enfants (1987). He also co-directed the landmark underwater documentary The Silent World with Jacques Cousteau, which won the 1956 Palme d'Or and the 1957 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Malle was one of only four directors to have won the Golden Lion twice. His other accolades included three Césars, two BAFTAs, and three Oscar nominations. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1991.
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Early life
Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries, Nord, France, the son of Françoise (Béghin) and Pierre Malle.
During World War II, Malle attended a Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. As an 11-year-old he witnessed a Gestapo raid on the school, in which three Jewish students, including his close friend, and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Père Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. Malle later depicted these events in his autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants (1987).
As a young man, Malle initially studied political science at Sciences Po from 1950 to 1952 (some sources incorrectly state that he studied at the Sorbonne) before turning to film studie] at IDHEC.
Career
Malle worked as the co-director and cameraman to Jacques Cousteau on the documentary The Silent World (1956), which won an Oscar and the Palme d'Or at the 1956 Academy Awards and Cannes Film Festival respectively. He assisted Robert Bresson on A Man Escaped (French title: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut, 1956) before making his first feature, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud in 1957 (released in the U.K. as Lift to the Scaffold and in the U.S. originally as Frantic, later as Elevator to the Gallows). A taut thriller featuring an original score by Miles Davis, Ascenseur pour l'échafaud made an international film star of Jeanne Moreau, at the time a leading stage actress of the Comédie-Française. Malle was 24 years old.
Malle is sometimes associated with the nouvelle vague movement. His work does not directly fit in with or correspond to the auteurist theories that apply to the work of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer and others, and he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Cahiers du cinéma. However, Malle's work does exemplify some of the characteristics of the movement, such as using natural light and shooting on location, and his film Zazie dans le Métro ("Zazie in the Metro", 1960, an adaptation of the Raymond Queneau novel) inspired Truffaut to write an enthusiastic letter to Malle.
Documentary on India
Malle visited India in 1968, and made the seven-part documentary series L'Inde fantôme: Reflexions sur un voyage and the documentary film Calcutta, which was released in cinemas. Concentrating on real India, its rituals and festivities, Malle fell afoul of the Indian government, which disliked his portrayal of the country, in its fascination with the pre-modern, and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years. Malle later claimed his documentary on India was his favorite film.
Move to the U.S.
Malle later moved to the United States and continued to direct there. His later films include Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City (1980), My Dinner with Andre (1981), Crackers (1984), Alamo Bay (1985), Damage (1992) and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994, an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya) in English; Au revoir les enfants (1987) and Milou en Mai (May Fools in the U.S., 1990) in French. Just as his earlier films such as The Lovers helped popularize French films in the United States, My Dinner with Andre was at the forefront of the rise of American independent cinema in the 1980s.
Towards the end of his life, Malle was interviewed extensively for The Times by cultural correspondent Melinda Camber Porter. In 1993, the interviews were included in Camber Porter's book Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections On Contemporary French Arts And Culture.
Personal life
Malle was married to actress Anne-Marie Deschodt from 1965 to 1967. He later had a son, Manuel Cuotemoc Malle (born 1971), with German actress Gila von Weitershausen, and a daughter, filmmaker Justine Malle (born 1974), with Canadian actress Alexandra Stewart.
He married actress Candice Bergen in 1980. They had one child, a daughter, Chloé Françoise Malle, on 8 November 1985. He died from lymphoma, aged 63, at their home in Beverly Hills, California on 23 November 1995.
Filmography
Feature films
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Other | Notes |
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1953 | Crazeologie | Yes | Yes | Short film | ||
1954 | Station 307 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film; Also cinematographer | |
1958 | Elevator to the Gallows | Yes | Yes | |||
1960 | Zazie in the Metro | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
1962 | A Very Private Affair | Yes | Yes | Yes | Appeared as a journalist | |
1963 | The Fire Within | Yes | Yes | |||
1965 | Viva Maria! | Yes | Yes | |||
1967 | The Thief of Paris | Yes | Yes | |||
1968 | Spirits of the Dead | Yes | Yes | Segment: "William Wilson" | ||
1969 | A Very Curious Girl | Yes | Appeared as Jésus | |||
1971 | Murmur of the Heart | Yes | Yes | |||
1974 | Lacombe, Lucien | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
1975 | Black Moon | Yes | Yes | |||
1978 | Pretty Baby | Yes | Yes | |||
1980 | Atlantic City | Yes | ||||
1981 | My Dinner with Andre | Yes | ||||
1984 | Crackers | Yes | ||||
1985 | Alamo Bay | Yes | Yes | |||
1987 | Au revoir les enfants | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
1990 | May Fools | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
1992 | La Vie de Bohème | Yes | Appeared in a cameo | |||
1992 | Damage | Yes | Yes | |||
1994 | Vanya on 42nd Street | Yes | Yes |
Documentary films
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Other | Notes |
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1956 | The Silent World | Yes | Co-directed with Jacques Cousteau | |||
1962 | Vive le Tour | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also cinematographer | |
1969 | Calcutta | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also narrator | |
1973 | Human, Too Human | Yes | ||||
1974 | Place de la République | Yes | Yes | Appeared as himself | ||
1976 | Close Up | Yes | Short film | |||
1986 | And the Pursuit of Happiness | Yes | Yes | Also cinematographer and narrator |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Other | Notes |
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1964 | Bons baisers de Bangkok | Yes | Short film | |||
1969 | Phantom India | Yes | Yes | Miniseries; Also narrator | ||
1985 | God's Country | Yes | Yes | Also cinematographer and narrator | ||
1994 | Murphy Brown | Yes | Appeared as himself; Episode: "My Movie with Louis" |
Awards and nominations
- Le Monde du silence (1956)
- Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winner
- The Lovers (1958)
- Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize Winner
- Le Feu follet (1963)
- Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize Winner
- Venice Film Festival Italian Film Critics Award Winner
- The Thief of Paris (1967)
- 5th Moscow International Film Festival official selection
- Calcutta (1969)
- Cannes Film Festival Official Selection
- Melbourne International Film Festival: Grand Prix Winner
- Murmur of the Heart (1971)
- Cannes Film Festival Official Selection
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nomination
- Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
- Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nomination
- Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination
- BAFTA Best Foreign Language Film Winner
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Director Nomination
- Pretty Baby (1978)
- Cannes Film Festival Technical Grand Prize Winner
- Atlantic City (1981)
- Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner
- Academy Award for Best Director Nomination
- Academy Award for Best Picture Nomination
- Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination
- Golden Globes Best Director Nomination
- BAFTA Best Director Winner
- Crackers (1984)
- Berlin Film Festival Official Selection
- Goodbye, Children (1987)
- Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner
- Venice Film Festival OCIC Award Winner
- Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nomination
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nomination
- Golden Globes Best Foreign Film Nomination
- BAFTA Best Director Winner
- BAFTA Best Film Nomination
- BAFTA Best Screenplay Nomination
- Cesar Awards Best Film Winner
- Cesar Awards Best Director Winner
- Cesar Awards Best Screenplay Winner
- European Film Awards Best Screenwriter Winner
- European Film Awards Best Film Nomination
- European Film Awards Best Director Nomination
- May Fools (1990)
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Film Nomination
See also
In Spanish: Louis Malle para niños