It's been a while, Louis Malle. Perhaps I needed that time to cleanse my palate and take another chance on you. A World War II setting brought to mind Au Revoir les Enfants, which I liked, so this seemed like a reasonable bet.
Lucien wants to make something of himself in occupied France. After a Resistance rep dismisses him for being only 17, he gets talked into joining the opposite side: the French arm of the Gestapo. Unaccompanied, he pays a visit to harass a suspected Jew, Albert. But Albert's daughter, the oddly and no doubt symbolically named France, charms Lucien into thinking it over.
The film stands out for having a deliberately unrelatable antihero. Obviously, Lucien does not carry strong moral or political convictions. His attitude toward Jews appears to be loosely shaped by whoever's spoken to him lately. Even in the semi-redemptive ending, he's probably driven only by love for one person.
I learned not to like Lucien from his first scene, in which he slingshots a small bird to the ground. He also shoots rabbits with a rifle, beats one to death with a stick, and even karate-chops a hen's head off. I have no assurance that no animals were hurt or killed in the making of this flick, nor do they look fake to me. And I'd thought the rabbit hunt in The Rules of the Game was bad.
Of course, as with TRotG, it wasn't animal cruelty that generated controversy in the homeland. Mainly, French viewers didn't care to see so many French characters collaborating with the Germans and so few resisting. There's even a Black guy among the German-aligned police. From what I gather, it is sadly realistic that way.
Not only do I find Lucien's behavior more controversial in other ways, but I have to wonder about France (the girl). What does she see in him? Does she even like him, or does she merely pretend to so he won't do worse things? She does strike me as a tad vacant, leading me to assume that Lucien's attraction is purely physical. Guess I'll chalk it up to Malle still not writing any good romance.
L,L is not the kind of movie you watch to feel good. You can admire the acting, especially by the young novices (hello, Aurore Clément). You may take interest in a little-told story with some distinctive personalities. But if you're like me, you'll want to move on to something very different next.
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