A Dijonnais schoolboy rips off
Charlie Parker LP's during the
siege of Dien Bien Phu, and ac-
cedes, against all odds, to his
hereditary portion of l'esprit
gaulois.
Along the way he endures cler-
ical erotic manipulation, self-
inflicted incest, coitus inter-
tuptus at the hands of his sib-
lings, and all manner of other
unspeakable ordeals, common, we
begin to notice, to Everyman.
But the same priest protects
him, the incestuous parent lib-
erates him, his siblings exalt
him, as he arrives in bare feet.
We notice ruefully, and then for-
givingly, in seeing the travails
of Western man catalogued for us
as early as 1971, that only their
typifications change, not their
substance; and we begin to ques-
tion whether we are only in a
more harshly uncomprehending era,
for all the candour of our com-
plaints.
I had no doubt, when I opened
this blog under the sobriquet,
Laurent, that Louis Malle had
captured in the career of his
defining hero a certain spark
which I've never not admired,
but might have patronised.
Returning to Le souffle au
coeur again for a recent post,
we all saw how much less guilt
there is in this world, than
our heightened consciousness
seems to permit us to accept.
It's no exoneration of the
demagogues, to lighten up on
their claque. We have all
missed something.
I think now, more than when
the movie appeared, it bears
the attention of progressives,
as an admonishment against o-
verdoing the schtick of juris-
prudence in regard to manners,
and in particular, their proud
excuses.
It follows, as one follows
Laurent, his career of obser-
vation and engagement must al-
low for a suspension of cate-
gories even more vigorously,
not less, because their recon-
ciliaton is likelier than our
menaces drive us to fear, and
disbelieve.
Louis Malle
Le souffle au coeur
Murmur of the Heart
Nouvelles Éditions de Films
1971©
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