CALIFORNIA MOVIE JOURNAL (January 2022)

[Chris Knipp]

MURMUR OF THE HEART/LE SOUFFLE AU COEUR (Louis Malle 1971). Due to his documentary interests and his whole other American English language oeuvre Malle's French New Wave development seems arrested. This and his much later, heartbreaking wartime memory Au Revoir, Les Enfants are a long way away from Elevator to the Gallows, Zazie, and The Fire Within in time but close in spirit. Murmur of the Heart maybe needed more time because of the ambiguous autobiographical material. But sensuous, free-spirited Italian mom (Lea Massari) whose affection for young "Renzino" (Laurent) is so physical it pours over into incestuous when she's accompanying him on a spa cure for his heart murmur, as well as the two older brothers' free-wheeling behavior and both parents' efforts at adultery, are all dealt with in such an indulgent manner it's confusing, not to say troubling, especially for someone raised in puritanical America. The free flow is downright disorderly, but this film has an anarchic mediterranean joyousness that's unique and often delightful, a little like Buñuel or Chabrol but much nicer. (Another Criterion Channel Nouvelle Vague offering.)