Directed by Louis Malle • 1963 • France
Starring Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Jeanne Moreau
After garnering international acclaim for such seminal crowd-pleasers as THE LOVERS and ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO, Louis Malle gave his fans a shock with THE FIRE WITHIN (LE FEU FOLLET), a penetrating study of individual and social inertia. Maurice Ronet (ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS), in an implosive, haunted performance, plays Alain Leroy, a self-destructive writer who resolves to kill himself and spends the next twenty-four hours trying to reconnect with a host of wayward friends. Unsparing in its portrait of Alain’s inner turmoil and shot with remarkable clarity, THE FIRE WITHIN is one of Malle’s darkest and most personal films.
Up Next in French New Wave
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Muriel, or The Time of Return
Directed by Alain Resnais • 1963 • France
Starring Delphine Seyrig, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Nita KleinAlain Resnais's MURIEL, OR THE TIME OF RETURN, the director's follow-up to LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, is as radical a reflection on the nature of time and memory as its predecessor. The always luminou...
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Bay of Angels
Directed by Jacques Demy • 1963 • France
Starring Jeanne Moreau, Claude MannThis precisely wrought, emotionally penetrating romantic drama from Jacques Demy, set largely in the casinos of Nice, is a visually lovely but darkly realistic investigation into love and obsession. A bottle-blonde Jean...
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Suzanne’s Career
Directed by Eric Rohmer • 1963 • France
Bertrand bides his time in a casually hostile and envious friendship with college chum Guillaume. But when ladies' man Guillaume seems to be making a play for the spirited, independent Suzanne, Bertrand watches bitterly with disapproval and jealousy. With ...
