Louis Malle(1932-1995)
Murmur of the Heart (Le souffle au cœur) is a 1971 film by French filmmaker Louis Malle also known for his other masterly works like his debut, ‘Elevator to the Gallows’(1957); ‘The Lovers’(1958); ‘Lacombe, Lucien’(1974);‘My Dinner with Andre’(1981) and ‘Goodbye, Children’(1987). Malle is known for controversial and often semi-autobiographical work. ‘The Lovers’ starring Jeanne Moreau faced charges of obscenity until it was ruled by the court that there was nothing obscene about the film. ‘Murmur of the Heart’ too created a flutter, a co ing of age film it gets into an incestuous relationship between a mother and son when they land up having sex after the Bastille Night.
Malle, a former assistant to Robert Bresson on ‘A Man Escaped’(1956) was also the cinematographer and co-director of Academy Award winning documentary, ‘The Silent World’ helmed by Jacques Cousteau. Though Malle was never associated with the Cahier du Cinema but is sometimes associated with the French New Wave(Nouvelle Vague) despite his poetics not exactly commensurate with auteur theory of the New Wave makers like Jean Luc-Godard and Francoise Truffaut. Though Truffaut did have appreciation for Louis Malle’s work. He also made a seven part documentary series in India called, ‘Calcutta’(1969) which was not liked by the Government of India and BBC was banned from shooting thereafter.
‘Murmur of the heart’ in Malle’s own words is an autobiographical film except the incest part! Sexual escapades and other ‘growing up’ adventures like alcohol and cigarettes were something Malle shared with his own two elder brothers, much like the fifteen year old protagonist, Laurent Chivalier(Benoit Ferreux) and his elder brothers Marc and Thomas. Malle, like Laurent suffered from Scarlet fever as well. The character of Clara Chivalier(Lea Massari- Italian actor) though not exactly lie Louis Malle’s other was modelled after a friend’s mother. Clara is all playful, doesn’t subscribe to the bourgeoise image of “motherhood” and is more of a playful elder sister to her boys than a mother. She is rather impish for a upper-middle class mother, something that Malle sets up in the very beginning of the film when she runs around and plays with the boys. Clara, an Italian immigrant whose father was an anti-fascist political activist and a womaniser became a mother at sixteen and is much younger than her gynaecologist husband a firm bourgeoise patriarch. Besides Clara is having an affair.
‘Murmur of the Heart’ is funny, playful yet delicate and endearing and that is what makes the film such a fine experience. At no point does it become trivial therefore laughable. While one laughs at some brilliantly conceived scenes like the spinach tennis the boys play with china plates and spinach, or the house keeper catching the boys comparing the size of their penises and declaring their masculinity, Malle never lets go of the delicacy of growing up. The murmurs in the film are warm, intimate, naughty yet lovable, like the bond of the three brothers. Laurent, the youngest of the three is obviously Clara’s favourite, he is the class topper and unlike his brothers has interest in Proust and Albert Camus.
But where the film really scores is its brilliant screenplay. No wonder it was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards. Malle cautiously weaves a tale of growing up from challenging parental authority to a visit to the brothel and peppers it with oozing sexuality of the young mother, Clara. There are enough plants in the script to foreshadow the “climax” yet what happens is both a surprise and a given. From sprinkling the film with Clara’s vulnerability to clearly outlining Laurent’s growing attraction towards his mother, for he is unable to channelise his raging hormones, till he sees her nude in the bath is a journey that Malle almost, tiptoes with caution but surety. A great scene is when Laurent aware of the fact that his mother has a lover says, “ whatever happens I am on your side”. And then when Clara returns after the breakup with her boyfriend, distraught, a very mature conversation takes place between mother and son.
The result is by the time mother and son(Clara and Laurent) actually land up having sex, Malle leaves no option for the two characters in the script but to get intimate. The whole journey and the “act” are laced with grace and dignity because what Louis Malle is exploring is “truth” and he is doing it truthfully. But the real masterstroke comes after the mother and son have spent the night. There is absolutely no fuss, at all. Clara very calmly tells Laurent that whatever happened is their little secret and that incest will never happen again. Malle stays clear of any sentimentality thus lending dignity to something that is not done and not acceptable socially, yet, is within the realm of human desire.
This apart, the film is also a scathing critique of bourgeoise regimentation and concepts of parent and child as dictated by middle class morality.
The layers of our consciousness are deep and complex and often incomprehensible. Suppressing our inner desires at times and expressing them at other is like a game of musical chairs, where you may feel you are playing the game and things are under your control but they are actually not. Afterall “growing up” is not easy.
Sharad Raj is a Mumbai based independent filmmaker, faculty and the Editor of Just Cinema.
Captured the heart of this classic so beautifully-the coming of age, innocence and the peculiar mother-son relationship.