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Credits
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Summary
The location is a small provincial town in south-west France, during the Nazi occupation
in the summer of 1944. Tired of his life as a hospital cleaner, 18-year old Lucien
Lacombe tries to join the French Resistance, but is turned down on account of his age.
All too easily he is recruited by the German police and works as a Gestapo agent, arresting
his fellow countrymen and generally tyrannising his former friends and relations. However,
whilst initially revelling in his new-found position of power, Lucien begins to have second
thoughts when he meets and falls in love with a young woman, who is the daughter of a
Jewish tailor he has been persecuting.
Review
Lacombe Lucien is a brilliant study of the corruption of innocence and the
realisation of guilt in a young impressionable adult. It is one of the finest films made
by director Louis Malle, who made a virtue of tackling difficult subjects in the course
of his long film-making career.
The actor Pierre Blaise gives an impressive performance as Lucien, an inspired piece of casting. The boyish features of the young actor accentuates Lucien’s vulnerability when he is seduced by the lure of Nazi power and the slow realisation of his mistake is portrayed with great subtlety and effect. The central message underpinning the film, which Malle manages to bring home with great effect through some truly impressive direction and writing, is that there are no absolutes in evil. This is achieved in a number of ways. For example, at the start of the film, Lucien appears cruel when killing animals for the dinner table. Then, when the film ends, Lucien is seen killing animals for the same reason, but now in an environment of idyllic innocence. The same act, seen from two different perspectives. The fact that Lucien’s happiness is short-lived and that he is ultimately condemned at the hands of his fellow country men, despite his evident rejection of Nazism, makes this a genuinely tragic story. © James Travers 2000 Write a review for this film... |
 
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