Athens International Film Festival
aiff

Elevator to The Gallows

22/9/2016, 20:00, Danaos 1 24/9/2016, 19:30, Odeon Opera 2

An illicit couple. A seemingly perfect crime. A desperate night in Paris. Suffocating suspense, fatal romanticism, Jeanne Moreau’s aristocratic beauty and Miles Davis’ now legendary jazz soundtrack converge in Louis Malle’s claustrophobic debut, an emblematic film noir which breathed new life in the genre, forever leaving its mark on French cinema.

Ascenceur pour l'+σchaffaud 2

Julien and Florence have masterminded the perfect plan to kill her husband and make it look like suicide. However, an unforeseen event leaves Julien trapped in an elevator and Florence wandering the streets of Paris at night looking for him, while the unexpected involvement of another couple complicates things further, with fatal results.

An extramarital affair; an ostensibly perfect crime; a desperate night in Paris. An iconic French film noir that revitalized the genre’s archetypal tropes, Louis Malle’s debut put the 24-year old director and his enchanting muse, Jeanne Moreau, firmly on the cinematic map. Stifling suspense, doomed romanticism, atmospheric black and white cinematography, a captivating depiction of the French capital, and Miles Davis’s legendary soundtrack make up this hypnotizing, claustrophobic thriller that left a deep mark on French cinema, defining all the elements that both connected and distinguished Louis Malle from the emerging explosion of the Nouvelle Vague.

Director: Louis Malle

Screenwriter: Roger Nimier, Louis Malles, Noel Callef (novel)

DoP: Henri Decae

Music: Miles Davis

Editor: Leonide Azar

Principal Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly

France | 1958 | B&W | DCP | 91' | French, German



    Publication date: 2016-09-11 12:03:18

    Λουί Μαλ: Les Fleurs du Malle

    Λουί Μαλ: Les Fleurs du Malle

    The Lovers

    The Lovers

    To stave off the ennui of domestic life in the countryside a young wife treats herself to trips to Paris and an affair with a sought-after bachelor, until her meeting with a young archaeologist turns her life upside down in a single night. The film, which shocked the conservative morals of its time with its liberated depiction of female sexuality, establishing Louis Malle as the poet of forbidden sensuality and Jeanne Moreau as a timeless sex symbol, is a splendidly shot adult fairy tale about love as an invincible driving force, capable of standing up to any social convention. Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

    The Fire Within

    The Fire Within

    An alcoholic, self-destructive author wanders around Paris for a day, striving to reconnect with old flames, friends and acquaintances, and desperately trying to find a reason to stay alive. The first of the many masterpieces by Louis Malle is an unbearably melancholic, yet charming ballad for those who feel like they don't belong anywhere. Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

    Murmur of the Heart

    Murmur of the Heart

    14-year-old Laurent is growing up in 50s France, smothered by his Italian mother's affection, ignored by his father and teased by his older brothers. He tries to discover the world, lose his virginity and rebel. Louis Malle reformulates the adventure called adolescence with rare tenderness, a disarming sense of humour and a guilt-free stance on taboos, presenting one the most beautiful coming-of-age stories ever told on screen and causing a scandal because of an incest scene. Nominated for Oscar for Best Screenplay.

    Lacombe, Lucien

    Lacombe, Lucien

    In 1944 France, 18-year-old Lucien asks to join the Resistance - when he is turned down, he joins the Gestapo instead. Drunk on power, he will find himself at a crossroads when he falls for a Jewish girl. In one of his masterpieces and one of the first films openly addressing the collaboration of some French citizens with the German occupiers, Malle calmly sketches the complex psychological profile of the most ambivalent character in his filmography and that of an entire country under the threat of being divided.