Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Lovers (1958)--4/5

Released by Janus Films during the “It’s Foreign, So It Must Be Dirty”* era, Louis Malle’s “The Lovers” unsurprisingly caused a scandal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s still shocking today.

That’s not to say that the dirty stuff is particularly graphic. PG-13-rated films of today—Nick & Norah, I’m looking at you—regularly surpass the “The Lovers” in adult content. The sex surprises because “The Lovers” is otherwise so unmistakably from 1958. Movies from this year do not have naked people in them. It’s just a given.

Apart from that, which really has to be brought up in any discussion of the film, “The Lovers” is an even-keeled vision of an often-unsympathetic woman. Jeanne (Jeanne Moreau) is a woman married into great wealth. She lives in a palatial estate with her husband, a daughter, and a platoon of servants. In her regular travels to Paris, she carries on an affair with another well-to-do man. When her car breaks down on a trip home, a third guy, Bernard, stops to help her; as an archaeologist, he is obviously of a lower class. She drives off with him mere hours after they've met.

Strikingly, Jeanne’s daughter is infrequently seen or discussed. In their only real moment of contact, Jeanne tucks her in while she’s sound asleep. This happens as the plan to leave is germinating! Jeanne has the impertinence of a teenager. Alienation to an indifferent spouse and great money seems reasonable; the treatment and subsequent dismissal of a child is something else. The morning after, as Jeanne and Bernard drive off, the narrator** mentions Jeanne’s creeping doubts about her new choice. “The Lovers” is more complex than it seems. It’s not, after all, a particularly romantic film.


*Janus released Bergman’s “Sawdust and Tinsel” as “The Naked Night”!

**A female narrator, which is rare indeed. I can only think of two other movies narrated by women who don’t play characters in the movies: “Tuck Everlasting” (Elisabeth Shue) and “The Age of Innocence” (Joanne Woodward).

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