Murmur of the Heart - Criterion Collection (1971)

This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 15-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 (including incestuous 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.

Annoyingly coy & phony

Malle was a master at anticipating the expectations of his audiences & giving them what they wanted with heaps & dollops of extra whipped cream & corn syrup. This films rings false from the first scene of the snotty schoolboys cutely scamming strangers on the street for contributions for war wounded then cutely stealing a Charlie Parker LP (& endlessly babbling on like future jazz criteeks on the wonders of modern jazz) then cutely stealing from their very sexy mom (it's a Malle movie - all women are sexy) then cutely & coyly pretending to compare their sexual endowments. And on & on goes Malle as though auditioning for membership in Hollywood jocularity & titillation.

No Catcher in the Rye this. July 4, 2008

You cannot be serious

OK i'll give it three stars because I was mildly entertained and intrigued with the concept of an Awkward skinny dweeb trying to get it on with his hot estranged mom with he whom he was reunited with during a vacation getaway in some rich snobby french resort..Now as for the noticeable flaws to this movie, What stood out was how physically awkward and uncoordinated the son was with just about everything including his dancing and his overall approach to women. Even his diolouge with people was blunt, rude, and unrealistic. Then his constant perverted curiouslity toward his Mom made me come to the overall conclusion that this kid was seriously disturbed or perhaps borderline retarded. And finally toward the end, I just found it absurd that his mom found the concept of incest acceptable for a one time situation. Then the last scene portrays the whole family together having a big laugh as if the incident between the Mom and the Son will never emotionally scar either at any point of their lives. Common is this normal, may be for the french it is I guess. July 3, 2008

Proof of Malle's Excellence as a Filmmaker

Only an excellent filmmaker would get away with making a charming coming-of-age comedy about incest. The movie is genuinely enjoyable and pretty funny. It dares the viewer to take it seriously. Much of the humor derives from the fact that the participants act like incest is the most normal thing in the world. Malle exorcising his Electra complex. A teenage boy, the shy, quiet, youngest of three is "broken in" by his hottie mommy. Gosh, those European moms are really affectionate. I wasn't offended as much as I thought it was silly. Of course, it only works because its mother/son and because she's a hot Italian babe. Great acting, excellent directing, smart sensitive script, & nice camerawork. Great jazz soundtrack. April 6, 2008

Nice film.

Nice film of a boy in his early teens and his search to be a man his pretty mother is the mane object of his desires.
An incestuous desire that is fullfiled in such a tender way one night by his mother that i think no one will be offended.
Both mother and son realise that this was a one time loving evening for both,they will keep it their secret and they will never be that close again.
Lea Massari is stunning in the role of the mother.Pretty and sweet as a real mother should be.

January 20, 2008

absolutely brilliant

I really cant say much that the other reviewers haven't said already. Mr. Littrell said it best with this line: "Malle, more than almost any film maker I can think of, keeps sex in perspective and does not over react to sexual differences." I concur wholeheartedly. Sex, even taboo, never looked so inviting.

I saw it once when I was fourteen myself and then just recently I picked it up on sale used, and I cherish it now as much as I did as a youth. The strong, tender relationship that Benoit Ferreux and Lea Massari share on screen is simply ravishing, sensual, brilliant and stunning. Malle does such an exceptional job in creating this funny, but believable world. The relationship reminds me somewhat of Marcel's with his mother in Yves Robert's 'My Father's Glory' and 'My Mother's Castle', another French masterpiece.

Lea Massari simply steals the show with sexy, sultry and tender scenes.

One of my favorite films of all time. November 16, 2007

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