Murmur of the Heart (1971) Le souffle au coeur (original title)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writer:

Louis Malle (written by)

Release Date:

17 October 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Sex | Coming Of Age | Dijon France | Shoplifting

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Lea Massari	...	Clara Chevalier
Benoît Ferreux	...	Laurent Chevalier
Daniel Gélin	...	Charles Chevalier
Michael Lonsdale	...	Father Henri
Ave Ninchi	...	Augusta
Gila von Weitershausen	...	Freda (the prostitute)
Fabien Ferreux	...	Thomas
Marc Winocourt	...	Marc
Micheline Bona	...	Aunt Claudine
Henri Poirier	...	Uncle Leonce
Liliane Sorval	...	Fernande
Corinne Kersten	...	Daphne
Eric Walter
François Werner	...	Hubert
René Bouloc	...	Man at Bastille Day party
Jacqueline Chauvaud	...	Helene
Jacques Gheusi	...	Hotel receptionist
Yvon Lec	...	Father Superior
Jean-Pierre Pessoz	...	Soldier
Bernadette Robert
Annie Savarin	...	Le cuisinière
Jacques Sereys
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Éric Burnelli	...	Maitre d'Hotel (uncredited)
Nicole Carrière	...	Mother (uncredited)
Michel Charrel	...	Disquaire (uncredited)
Huguette Faget	...	Mother (uncredited)
Isabelle Kloucowski	...	Madeleine (uncredited)
Lia Wanital	...	Mother (uncredited)

Directed by
Louis Malle

Writing credits
Louis Malle		(written by)

Produced by
Vincent Malle	....	producer
Claude Nedjar	....	producer

Cinematography by
Ricardo Aronovich

Film Editing by
Suzanne Baron

Production Design by
Jean-Jacques Caziot

Makeup Department
Jacky Reynal	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Maurice Urbain	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rida Draïs	....	assistant director
Fernand Moszkowicz	....	assistant director (as Fernand Moscowicz)
Ghislain Uhry	....	collaborating director

Art Department
Philippe Turlure	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Jean-Claude Laureux	....	sound
Michel Vionnet	....	assistant sound

Editorial Department
Catherine Brasier-Snopko	....	assistant editor (as Catherine Snopko)
Solange Leprince	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Sidney Bechet	....	composer: stock music
Gaston Frèche	....	composer: stock music
Charlie Parker	....	composer: stock music
Henri Renaud	....	composer: stock music

Other crew
Élisabeth Rappeneau	....	script girl

Production Companies

• Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF) (co-production) (as N.E.F.-Marianne Films - Paris)
• Marianne Productions (co-production) (as N.E.F.-Marianne Films - Paris)
• Vides Cinematografica (co-production) (as Vides Films - Rome)
• Franz Seitz Filmproduktion (co-production) (as Seitz Filmproduktion - Munich)

Distributors

• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• Magna-Filmi (1971) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1987) (Finland) (TV)
• Orion Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Arte Vidéo (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Film Express (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Future Film (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Orion Classics (????) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Palomar Pictures International (????) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)

Other Companies

• Éditions Gallimard  publisher: Scenario

Also Known As:

"Le souffle au coeur" - France (original title)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

France | Italy | West Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | UK:18 | USA:R | Australia:R | South Korea:18 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:18 | Peru:18

Filming Locations:

Dijon, Côte-d'Or, France

Company:

Nouvelles Éditions de Films (NEF)

Trivia:

While the incest aspects of the story were not autobiographical, Louis Malle did in fact end up sharing a hotel room with his mother as a child while on a trip to treat his heart murmur due to "bizarre" circumstances.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Early in the movie, Clara states that she saw The Barefoot Contessa in Paris. During this early part of the movie, the French are fighting the war in Indochina. The final battle of that war, Dien Bien Phu, occurred on May 7, 1954, 4 1/2 months before The Barefoot Contessa was released. In addition, Bastille Day is celebrated on July 14th, also before the movie was released.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Spanking the Monkey (1994)

Sophisticated naughtiness.

This is one of my all-time favorite films.

Young Laurent Chevalier, his mother & his roguish elder brothers break every taboo known to small-town 1950s Dijon: underage drinking, underage sex, blasphemy, incest, petty theft, adultery, art forgery, whoremongering, drunk driving... What more can you ask? Malle treats their escapades with such lighthearted sympathy & wit you can't help liking them.

Before I first saw Soufflé au Coeur, I read a blurb for it in the monthly listings of my local repertory cinema that ran something like this (I quote from memory): "This film does a lot to restore the French to their former reputation for sophisticated naughtiness." I can't sum it up any better than that.