Les amants (1958)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Louis Malle

Writer:

Louise de Vilmorin (dialogue)

Release Date:

26 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The most talked-about and fought-about film!

Plot:

Bored with her husband, bored with her polo-playing lover, will the middle-aged heroine go away with...

Plot Keywords:

Secret Lover | Paris France | Castle | Sex | Burgundy

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jeanne Moreau	...	Jeanne Tournier
Jean-Marc Bory	...	Bernard Dubois-Lambert
Judith Magre	...	Maggy Thiebaut-Leroy
José Luis de Villalonga	...	Raoul Flores (as José Villalonga)
Gaston Modot	...	Coudray
Pierre Frag
Michèle Girardon	...	La secrétaire
Gib Grossac
Lucienne Hamon	...	Chantal
Georgette Lobre	...	Marthe
Claude Mansard	...	Marcelot (as Claude Mansart)
Alain Cuny	...	Henri Tournier

Also Known As:

The Lovers (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Burgundy, France

Company:

Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Trivia:

After screening this film, Nico Jacobellis, manager of the Heights Art Theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was charged with and convicted of possessing and exhibiting an obscene film. He appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which overturned the convictions, ruling that the film was not obscene. In a concurring opinion, Justice Potter Stewart made his famous pronouncement concerning what was pornography: "I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)

Soundtrack:

Streichsextett No. 1

Looking for real happiness

In 1959 this film was considered as something close to porno, but this is far enough from the reality. Jeanne Moreau was young, nice and attractive. She was the star of this film, which goes slowly as usual in French cinema's style. When you see this type of film you must become a psychologist to penetrate inside the brains of each hero and make some conclusions. Accordingly I concluded that life is not a straight line, suddenly something may happen in our lives that deviate completely this straight line. Formal ethics accepted by the society goes sometimes to extremes that does not enable the persons to behave and feel happy. What's wrong when the current life is disrupted to start a new one? At this point I advise you to see this old, and black and white film, which may compel you to think and to conclude something new, probably different to what I am saying here.