The Lovers

Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, Louis Malle's second film touched off a storm of controversy upon its initial release due to its accepting treatment of the subject of adultery, and its scandalous garden/boat/bed extended love scene (on both counts the film wouldn't earn more than a "PG" rating today). Beautifully filmed in Cinemascope by Henri Decae, and presented in a letterboxed format, The Lovers tells the story of Jeanne (Jeanne Moreau), a bored provincial housewife who visits her best friend Maggy (Judith Magre) in Paris every weekend, primarily to be around her amore, glamorous polo player Raoul Flores (Jose-Luis de Villalonga). When Henri (Alain Cuny), Jeanne's husband, challenges Jeanne to have Maggy and her friend Raoul spend a weekend with them in country, Jeanne reluctantly agrees. Unfortunately, on the day her guests are meant to arrive, she becomes stranded when her car breaks down and she ends up hitching a ride with a young man named Bernard (Jean-Marc Bory)--who is invited to spend the night at Jeanne and Henri's house. While drinking cocktails with her husband and guests, Jeanne suddenly becomes despondent when she realizes that her husband is a bore, and her lover is ridiculous. Later that evening she and Bernard do the ultra-romantic bit in the boudoir by way of the garden and the boat. Storywise, The Lovers is no great shakes, but it's unquestionably a beautiful film to look at and is generally regarded as one of the handful of key films in the French "nouvelle vague." Recommended for libraries with larger foreign collections. (R. Pitman) [DVD Review—May 13, 2008—Criterion, 90 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95—Making its first appearance on DVD, 1958's The Lovers sports a great transfer. DVD extras include a selection of archival interviews with director Louis Malle (30 min.), costars Jeanne Moreau (9 min.) and José de Villalonga (5 min.), and writer Louise de Vilmorin (4 min.), as well as a gallery of promotional materials from the U.S. release, and an essay by film historian Ginette Vincendeau. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an influential film.]