Louis Malle
Louis Marie Malle (30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. His film "The Silent World" won the Palme d'Or in 1956 and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957, although he was not credited at the ceremony with the award instead being presented to the film's co-director Jacques Cousteau. Later in his career he was nominated multiple times for Academy Awards. Malle is also one of the few directors to have won the Golden Lion multiple times.
Malle worked in both French cinema and Hollywood, and he produced both French and English language films. His most famous films include the crime film "Elevator to the Gallows" (1958), the World War II drama "Lacombe, Lucien" (1974), the romantic crime film "Atlantic City" (1980), the comedy-drama "My Dinner with Andre" (1981), and the autobiographical film "Au Revoir les Enfants" (1987).
Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries, Nord, France. He initially studied political science at Sciences Po before turning to film studies at IDHEC instead.
He assisted Robert Bresson on "A Man Escaped" (1956) before making his first feature, "Elevator to the Gallows" (1958), a taut thriller featuring an original score by Miles Davis, which made an international film star of Jeanne Moreau, at the time a leading stage actress of the Comédie-Française. Malle was 24 years old.
Malle's "The Lovers" (1958), which also starred Moreau, caused major controversy due to its sexual content, leading to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the legal definition of obscenity. Malle is sometimes associated with the nouvelle vague movement, and while Malle's work does not directly fit in with or correspond to the auteurist theories that apply to the work of Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, Rohmer and others, and he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Cahiers du cinéma, his films do exemplify many of the characteristics of the movement, such as using natural light and shooting on location, and his film "Zazie dans le Métro" (1960), an adaptation of the Raymond Queneau novel, inspired Truffaut to write an enthusiastic letter to Malle.
In 1968 Malle visited India and made a seven-part documentary series "Phantom India" (1969), which was released in cinemas. Concentrating on real India, its rituals and festivities, Malle fell afoul of the Indian government, which disliked his portrayal of the country, in its fascination with the pre-modern, and consequently banned the BBC from filming in India for several years. Malle later claimed his documentary on India was his favorite film.
Malle later moved to the United States and continued to direct there. Just as his earlier films such as "The Lovers" helped popularize French films in the United States, "My Dinner with Andre" was at the forefront of the rise of American independent cinema in the 1980s.
Photos
Movies (62)
Louis Malle, le révolté
2025 · Self (archive footage)
La Vie en Gris: The Anglophone Louis Malle in Seven Pictures
2022
Becoming Cousteau
2021 · Self (archive footage)
L'affaire Matzneff
2020 · Self (archive footage)
The Birth of Cool: La historia de Miles Davis y su música
2019 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Jeanne Moreau: Free Spirit
2018 · Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown
2016 · Self (archive footage)
Louis Malle, le rebelle
2015 · Self (archive footage)
A Master Builder
2014 · In Memory Of
The Bardot mystery
2012
Ekeb of Dekye
2010 · Original Story
On the Trail of the New Wave
2009 · Self (archive footage)
365 Day Project
2007 · Self
The Passions of Louis Malle
2003
Who Is Henry Jaglom?
1997 · Self
The Ogre
1996 · In Memory Of
Vanya on 42nd Street
1994 · Director
Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II
1993 · Self
Obsesión
1992 · Director, Producer
La Vie de Bohème
1992 · Gentleman
May Fools
1990 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Au Revoir les Enfants
1987 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
… And the Pursuit of Happiness
1986 · Narrator (voice), Director, Producer, Director of Photography
God's Country
1985 · Narrator (voice), Director, Director of Photography
Jacques Cousteau: The First 75 Years
1985 · Self
Alamo Bay
1985 · Director, Producer
The Road to Bresson
1984 · Self
My Dinner with Louis
1984 · Interviewee
Crackers
1984 · Director
Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter
1982 · Reader - Melies Catalogue (voice)
Hollywood’s Children
1982 · Self
My Dinner with Andre
1981 · Director
Atlantic City
1980 · Director
Pretty Baby
1978 · Director, Story, Producer
Close up: Dominique Sanda ou le rêve éveillé
1977 · Director
Black Moon
1975 · Director, Writer
The Lion Roars Again
1975 · Self (uncredited)
Place de la République
1974 · Self, Director
A Human Condition
1974 · Director
Lacombe, Lucien
1974 · Director, Writer, Producer
Français, si vous saviez
1973 · Delegated Producer
Murmur of the Heart
1971 · Director, Writer
A Very Curious Girl
1969 · Jésus
Calcutta
1969 · Narrator (voice), Director, Writer
Spirits of the Dead
1968 · Director, Adaptation, Screenplay
The Thief of Paris
1967 · Extra (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
The Birth of Children of Paradise
1967 · Self
Young Törless
1966 · Producer
Un metteur en ordre: Robert Bresson
1966 · Self
Viva Maria!
1965 · Director, Screenplay
The Thief of Tibadabo
1965 · Producer
Best Regards from Bangkok
1964 · Director
The Fire Within
1963 · Director, Screenplay
Vive Le Tour
1962 · Director, Writer, Director of Photography
A Very Private Affair
1962 · Le journaliste (uncredited), Director, Writer
Zazie dans le Métro
1960 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
The Lovers
1958 · Director
Elevator to the Gallows
1958 · Director, Screenplay
The Silent World
1956 · Cinematography, Director, Director of Photography
La Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
1955 · Director
Station 307
1955 · Director, Writer, Director of Photography
Crazeologie
1954 · Director
TV shows (11)
La historia de Brooke Shields
2023 · Self (archive footage)
Storyville
1997
Ciné regards
1978 · Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975 · Self
Spécial cinéma
1974 · Self
Film '72
1971 · Self
Samedi soir
1971 · Self
Phantom India
1969 · Self - Narrator, Director, Writer
Pour le plaisir
1964 · Self
Discorama
1959 · Self
Cinépanorama
1956 · Self