Lacombe Lucien (1974)
Average Rating: 8.5/10
Reviews Counted: 5
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Release Date: Jan 30, 1974 Wide
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 1,732
Movie Info
With a superb music score by Django Reinhardt, this is a Louis Malle film about the German occupation of France. Based on his own experiences in France during the occupation, Malle's film does not paint a pretty picture of the French Resistance and eventually he emigrated to America because of the critical reaction to this film. Essentially the tale of a young boy who wants to join the Resistance but is shunned by them because of his youth, he joins the Gestapo. Unfortunately, he then falls in
Jan 30, 1974 Wide
Mar 14, 2006
Criterion Collection
Cast
-
Pierre Blaise
Lucien Lacombe -
Aurore Clement
France -
Holger Loewenadler
Albert Horn -
Therese Giehse
Bella Horn -
Stephane Bouy
Jean -
Loumi Iacobesco
Betty -
Rene Bouloc
Faure -
Jean Bousquet
Peyssac the schoolteach... -
Pierre Decazes
Aubert -
Jacques Rispal
M. Laborit -
Gilberte Rivet
Lucien's mother -
Jean Rougerie
Tonin -
Jacqueline Staup
Lucienne -
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All Critics (7) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (0)
This coolly detached WWII chronicle, which is critical of the French Resistance, is one of Louis Malles' strongest and most personal films.
Malle's absolute faith in his skills as a storyteller and in the inherent power of this true story puts Lacombe, Lucien in the company of the best humanist portraits ever filmed.
Superbly evocative of the period in both imagery and mood, Lacombe Lucien is a character study of a young man during a dark chapter in French history
A controversial WWII drama about the German occupation of France that has a young French Gestapo policeman romance a young Jewess.
The collaborationist anti-hero finds Malle instantly broaching a cultural taboo, compounded when the traitorous young man forces himself into a sexual relationship with a not-entirely unyielding girl named France.
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[font=Century Gothic]Directed by Louis Malle, "Lacombe Lucien" is a chilling look at occupied France where there is a compulsion for the populace to inform on each other. While there may be some easy answers as to why some people would collaborate with the Nazis such as anti-Semitism and anti-Communism(There is a Gestapo member who is black and I would have loved to have heard his story.), Lucien is another matter entirely as his alliance with the Nazis is a matter of circumstance. Apparently, he lacks a conscience and gets a little drunk on whatever power he has. However, as one character puts it, Lucien is somehow not entirely despicable. On the other hand, he is not likable, either.[/font]