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LE SOUFFLE AU COEUR (MURMUR OF THE HEART)
Louis Malle, France, 1971
Wednesday 27 August 2003 10.10pm-12.05am
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Louis Malle's films are littered with memorable youngsters, from Catherine Demongeot's Zazie to Pierre Blaise's Lucien Lacombe and Brooke Shields' Pretty Baby. Benoît Ferreux's fine turn in Le Souffle au Coeur - as Laurent, a choirboy on the cusp of adulthood - is less well known than these actors' performances yet easily ranks alongside them.
We first meet Laurent in the film's breezy, freewheeling opening, as he crosses the streets of Dijon collecting for "the casualties in Indo-China" (the film is set in the Spring of 1954). Laurent pockets the contributions yet still feels compelled to steal a jazz record, owning up to the theft at confession and grudgingly admitting to additional bouts of foul language and self-abuse.
The first half of Malle's film exuberantly charts such adolescent exploits, culminating in a trip to a brothel and the loss of Laurent's virginity. The second half, prompted by his contraction of a heart murmur, takes place at a spa where he retires for a 'cure' with his mother. Here, the film's (in)famous scene of incest takes place. It's a touching, heartfelt sequence that's at odds with the hysteria it precipitated in the early 1970s.
Malle's films often enraged conservative quarters. One of his first, Les Amants (1958), and one of his last, Damage (1992), won attention for their 'explicit' content. In Damage, passions are depicted as dangerous, propelling the film towards its tragic conclusion. In contrast, Laurent's sexual encounters - with an amiable hooker, a young girl at the resort and, most pertinently, his mother - are tenderly, even playfully presented.
The consummation of Laurent's relationship with his mother is preceded by a beautifully moving scene in which he watches her take a bath. There's nothing seedy about the voyeuristic nature of the sequence. Like a later incident, in which he lays out his mother's undergarments on her bed, it's an act of undiluted wonder and affection - one that perfectly encapsulates Malle's sensitive approach.
Chris Wiegand
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Malle himself was a huge jazz fan. His films feature music from Miles Davis and Django Reinhardt.
