Louis Malle's 'Lacombe Lucien' is chiefly a character study.
The title character Lucien is a troubled and confused young man in a troubled and confused time. Instead of a heroic character with conviction Malle presents us with the traitor, the Nazi collaborator. At the film's onset Lucien attempts to join the French resistance, and is rejected. Perhaps because of his wounded pride, or thirst for action he then joins the German police and turns in the resistance leader who refused him. Malle gives us this dark young man and seems to ask the question, is he human? Lucien is uneducated, uncultured, unsure, and unimportant. He does not have wit, style, or charm. Although he is a collaborator he does not seem to share the conviction of the Germans, rather his collaboration comes out of a desire for some measure of power and importance. He seems to always chose the wrong thing, and yet as one character puts it "It's strange, I can't bring myself to completely despise you". But Malle's portrait is not a sympathetic one. The viewer will hardly feel sorry, or aligned with Lucien. Despite all this he remains human. Even though he seems to move through life in a somewhat robotic and detached fashion we are left with small glimpses of his humanity. He falls for a young Jewish girl, yet his affair with her is possessive and controlling.
His fate, as revealed at the film's conclusion, is not surprising or undeserved, but in a way it is still tragic. It is tragic because Lucien was a young man who perhaps lacked the knowledge and conviction to do the right thing. Lucien is certainly what he has been made by his self and his own decisions, but he is also a product of the times. When Lucien finally does make the right choice we begin to see a laughing and more carefree and human side of him. His story is tragic because by the time he chooses to do the right thing it is too late.
Apart from Malle's distinctive style this film is quite different from his other coming of age tales, because Lucien seems to lack the kind of youthful joy which Malle captures so well. This is the film's only drawback: it is not pleasant, it is not fun. Lucien is not all that relatable. But this is because the times were not pleasant, not fun, and not relatable.
Of course anyone who is watching one of Louis Malle film's goes in looking for art, but so often his art is fun and enjoyable. This is not one of those films; it is dark and serious. But, even though the portrait Malle paints is dark, it is human and it is vivid.
The title character Lucien is a troubled and confused young man in a troubled and confused time. Instead of a heroic character with conviction Malle presents us with the traitor, the Nazi collaborator. At the film's onset Lucien attempts to join the French resistance, and is rejected. Perhaps because of his wounded pride, or thirst for action he then joins the German police and turns in the resistance leader who refused him. Malle gives us this dark young man and seems to ask the question, is he human? Lucien is uneducated, uncultured, unsure, and unimportant. He does not have wit, style, or charm. Although he is a collaborator he does not seem to share the conviction of the Germans, rather his collaboration comes out of a desire for some measure of power and importance. He seems to always chose the wrong thing, and yet as one character puts it "It's strange, I can't bring myself to completely despise you". But Malle's portrait is not a sympathetic one. The viewer will hardly feel sorry, or aligned with Lucien. Despite all this he remains human. Even though he seems to move through life in a somewhat robotic and detached fashion we are left with small glimpses of his humanity. He falls for a young Jewish girl, yet his affair with her is possessive and controlling.
His fate, as revealed at the film's conclusion, is not surprising or undeserved, but in a way it is still tragic. It is tragic because Lucien was a young man who perhaps lacked the knowledge and conviction to do the right thing. Lucien is certainly what he has been made by his self and his own decisions, but he is also a product of the times. When Lucien finally does make the right choice we begin to see a laughing and more carefree and human side of him. His story is tragic because by the time he chooses to do the right thing it is too late.
Apart from Malle's distinctive style this film is quite different from his other coming of age tales, because Lucien seems to lack the kind of youthful joy which Malle captures so well. This is the film's only drawback: it is not pleasant, it is not fun. Lucien is not all that relatable. But this is because the times were not pleasant, not fun, and not relatable.
Of course anyone who is watching one of Louis Malle film's goes in looking for art, but so often his art is fun and enjoyable. This is not one of those films; it is dark and serious. But, even though the portrait Malle paints is dark, it is human and it is vivid.