Murmur of the Heart (1971) ( Le Souffle au coeur ) ( Dearest Love )

Murmur of the Heart (1971) (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Le Souffle au coeur
Alternate Title: Dearest Love
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
112 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1971 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Louis Malle

Written By:
Louis Malle

Actors:
Lea Massari ..... Clara Chevalier
Benoît Ferreux ..... Laurent Chevalier
Daniel Gélin ..... Charles Chevalier
Michael Lonsdale ..... Father Henri
Ave Ninchi ..... Augusta
Gila von Weitershausen ..... Freda (the prostitute)
Fabien Ferreux ..... Thomas
Marc Winocourt ..... Marc
Micheline Bona ..... Aunt Claudine
Henri Poirier ..... Uncle Leonce
Liliane Sorval ..... Fernande
Corinne Kersten ..... Daphne
Eric Walter ..... Hubert
François Werner ..... Man at Bastille Day party
René Bouloc

Synopsis:

Told with fondness and precision, and set in France at the time of the IndoChina War (which later became an American problem known as the Vietnam War), this controversial feature handles teen coming-of-age, sexuality and even incest with a gentleness that disappointed the prurient and shocked the conservative. This is one of director Louis Malle's finest films: others include The Fire Within and Au Revoir Les Enfants. Laurent (Benoit Ferreux) is 14 years old and anxious to lose his virginity. However, he has a very close family circle, and, between the family and school, he is too closely watched to get anywhere. He makes the most of an opportunity to neck with the girls at his older brothers' party and later almost gets to lose his virginity in a bordello, but his boisterously drunken brothers interrupt him. His real opportunity arises while his mother takes him for a rest-cure for his heart murmur at a very conventional spa.

This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France. This is France in the mid-1950s rather than America in the 1990s. Thus, Laurent is unharmed by events which would irreparably shatter the self-esteem of a modern American adolescent: he gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. There's enough scandalous behavior in this film to make 100 made-for-TV movies, and yet this is a very happy and oddly innocent tale.

A coming of age story set in the 1950s where a young teenager, Laurent Chevalier, learns about life with help from his older brothers and his mother Clara. As the youngest in the family Laurent is alternately smothered with affection or roundly ignored. His brothers take him out drinking in a club-brothel where he also loses his virginity. Things get a bit more complicated however when he and his mother go on holiday.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 14 October, 2021.

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