Les amants (1958)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writer:

Louise de Vilmorin (dialogue)

Release Date:

26 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The most talked-about and fought-about film!

Plot:

Bored with her husband, bored with her polo-playing lover, will the middle-aged heroine go away with...

Plot Keywords:

Weekend | Infidelity | Controversy | Sex | Car Breakdown

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Jeanne Moreau	...	Jeanne Tournier
Jean-Marc Bory	...	Bernard Dubois-Lambert
Judith Magre	...	Maggy Thiebaut-Leroy
José Luis de Villalonga	...	Raoul Flores (as José Villalonga)
Gaston Modot	...	Coudray
Pierre Frag
Michèle Girardon	...	La secrétaire
Gib Grossac
Lucienne Hamon	...	Chantal
Georgette Lobre	...	Marthe
Claude Mansard	...	Marcelot (as Claude Mansart)
Alain Cuny	...	Henri Tournier

Also Known As:

The Lovers (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Burgundy, France

Company:

Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Trivia:

After screening this film, Nico Jacobellis, manager of the Heights Art Theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was charged with and convicted of possessing and exhibiting an obscene film. He appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which overturned the convictions, ruling that the film was not obscene. In a concurring opinion, Justice Potter Stewart made his famous pronouncement concerning what was pornography: "I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964) (Stewart, J., concurring).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in El curso en que amamos a Kim Novak (1980)

Soundtrack:

Streichsextett No. 1

Early Louis Malle Classic

Luminously inscrutable Jeanne Moreau gives one of her best performances in Louis Malle's "The Lovers" (1958:***1/2), a chic and entertaining romantic drama that was quite controversial in its day because of a prolonged love scene in the last half hour. Of course, today it seems very innocent, indeed. She plays the bored wife of a wealthy newspaper owner who impulsively decides to runs off with a young man who picks her up after her car stalls on the highway. Since the lover is played by a handsome young actor named Jean-Marc Bory (wonder whatever happened to him), who could blame her? Malle offers delicate hints during the morning after that the affair may not last too long. All-in-all, an exquisite film. The video version is letterboxed, too, which is a big plus.