Lucien Lamcombe is the title character of this story about a French teen who joins the German police on a lark during the last year of WWII. A short time earlier, he'd volunteered for the Resistance but was rejected--why he so willingly joined the Nazis was tough to decipher--as were his motives apart from that as well as his inner world. In fact, the young man is like a puzzle with several missing pieces--he just exists and seems to have no depth or much personality--much like the main character in Albert Camus' "The Stranger". He IS--and that's about all you can say about this rather bland and amoral character.
Despite the war having been over for nearly three decades, this film apparently did not do well in France. Perhaps they just didn't want to be reminded that many "good people" willingly collaborated or maybe the wounds were just too fresh.
I liked the film and recommend it, though I must admit director Malle's style is quite unusual and nothing like a Hollywood product. It isn't just because the title character is so amorphous, but the entire story of the film. While there is a little music here and there, it's generally a very quiet film with many long camera shots where not a lot occurs--and seems quite "arty" as a result. Also, there is so much vagueness about the final portion of the film. It just ends very abruptly and there is a slapped on summary of what happened next--almost like they were saying "scene missing here" and instead of re-filming it they just gave a summary of would have been the final ten minutes or so. To me, this was very dissatisfying--particularly because there was no mention of what happened with the girl or her grandmother. Perhaps because the film already was quite long (about 140 minutes), they just decided to end it this way to save costs for film! Whatever the reason, this brought the film from an 8 to a score of 7. An unusual, compelling and odd film--there certainly isn't much like it out there.
UPDATE--I spoke with a friend about this film and the more we talked, the more I now realize that what I didn't like about this film (even though it is still a good movie) is that the main character is not consistent nor does he seem to have any depth. Because he is so immature and bland, I could imagine someone seeing this film and actually feeling sorry for or at least excusing his evil. No matter how "nice" he becomes later in the film, his actions are inexcusable and I didn't want to connect with him and I found this a bit disturbing. Still, it is an unusual and thought-provoking work.
Despite the war having been over for nearly three decades, this film apparently did not do well in France. Perhaps they just didn't want to be reminded that many "good people" willingly collaborated or maybe the wounds were just too fresh.
I liked the film and recommend it, though I must admit director Malle's style is quite unusual and nothing like a Hollywood product. It isn't just because the title character is so amorphous, but the entire story of the film. While there is a little music here and there, it's generally a very quiet film with many long camera shots where not a lot occurs--and seems quite "arty" as a result. Also, there is so much vagueness about the final portion of the film. It just ends very abruptly and there is a slapped on summary of what happened next--almost like they were saying "scene missing here" and instead of re-filming it they just gave a summary of would have been the final ten minutes or so. To me, this was very dissatisfying--particularly because there was no mention of what happened with the girl or her grandmother. Perhaps because the film already was quite long (about 140 minutes), they just decided to end it this way to save costs for film! Whatever the reason, this brought the film from an 8 to a score of 7. An unusual, compelling and odd film--there certainly isn't much like it out there.
UPDATE--I spoke with a friend about this film and the more we talked, the more I now realize that what I didn't like about this film (even though it is still a good movie) is that the main character is not consistent nor does he seem to have any depth. Because he is so immature and bland, I could imagine someone seeing this film and actually feeling sorry for or at least excusing his evil. No matter how "nice" he becomes later in the film, his actions are inexcusable and I didn't want to connect with him and I found this a bit disturbing. Still, it is an unusual and thought-provoking work.