Image of Louis Malle

Louis Malle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Louis Marie Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. His film Le Monde du silence won the Palme d'Or in 1956 and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957, although he was not credited at the ceremony with the award instead being presented to the film's co-director Jacques Cousteau. Later in his career he was nominated multiple times for Academy Awards. Malle is also one of the few directors to have won the Golden Lion multiple times. Malle worked in both French cinema and Hollywood, and he produced both French and English language films. His most famous films include the crime film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958), the World War II drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), the romantic crime film Atlantic City (1980), the comedy-drama My Dinner with Andre (1981), and the autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants (1987). Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries, Nord, France. He initially studied political science at Sciences Po before turning to film studies at IDHEC instead. He 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 (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's The Lovers (Les Amants, 1958), which also starred Moreau, caused major controversy due to its sexual content, leading to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the legal definition of obscenity. Malle is sometimes associated with the nouvelle vague movement. Malle's work does not directly fit in with or correspond to the auteurist theories that apply to the work of Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer and others, and he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Cahiers du cinéma. However, it does exemplify many 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. In 1968 Malle visited India and made a seven-part documentary series L'Inde fantôme: Reflexions sur un voyage and a 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. Malle later moved to the United States and continued to direct there. 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.


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Born:
Oct 30, 1932 In Thumeries, Nord, France
Movie/TV Credits:
27
First Appeared:
In the movie Crazeologie 1954-04-18
Latest Project:
Movie La Vie en Gris: The Anglophone Louis Malle in Seven Pictures 2022-10-26
Known For
Poster of Louis Malle, le rebelle
Poster of … And the Pursuit of Happiness
Poster of Phantom India
Poster of Crazeologie
Filmography
Movie La Vie en Gris: The Anglophone Louis Malle in Seven Pictures 2022-10-26
Movie Becoming Cousteau Self (archive footage) 2021-10-22
Movie L'affaire Matzneff Self (archive footage) 2020-01-05
Movie Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Self - Filmmaker (archive footage) 2019-08-23
Movie Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit Self - Filmmaker (archive footage) 2018-04-02
Movie Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown Self (archive footage) 2016-09-02
Movie Louis Malle, le rebelle Self (archiveFootage) 2015-03-30
Movie On the Trail of the New Wave Self (archive footage) 2009-03-14
Movie Who Is Henry Jaglom? Self 1997-07-08
Movie La Vie de Bohème Gentleman 1992-02-27
Movie … And the Pursuit of Happiness Narrator (voice) 1986-06-27
Movie God's Country Narrator (voice) 1985-11-27
Movie My Dinner with Louis Interviewee 1984-05-06
Movie The Road to Bresson Self 1984-05-13
Movie Hollywood’s Children Self 1982-02-24
Movie Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter Reader - Melies Catalogue (voice) 1982-10-09
Movie The Lion Roars Again Self (uncredited) 1975-01-01
Movie Place de la République Self 1974-04-30
Movie Calcutta Narrator (voice) 1969-04-16
Series Phantom India Self - Narrator 1969-07-25
Movie A Very Curious Girl Jésus 1969-12-03
Movie The Birth of Children of Paradise Self 1967-01-01
Movie The Thief of Paris Extra (uncredited) 1967-02-22
Movie Un metteur en ordre: Robert Bresson Self 1966-05-11
Movie A Very Private Affair Le journaliste (uncredited) 1962-01-31
Series Cinépanorama 1956-02-04
Movie Crazeologie 1954-04-18