Lacombe Lucien
Louis Malle’s Lacombe Lucien is a compelling movie about getting caught up in profound evil. It is a deep, rich character study and covers a young French man who finds himself getting involved with the German occupiers in France for reasons that are less political and ideological and more superficial. The young French man, named Lucien Lacombe (Pierre Blaise), perhaps tells us all we need to know about how evil spreads and about how its lush appeal can defile those of us who stand on the precipice between right and wrong.
Malle is interested in the profound range of humanity here, showing us a France that many would rather not know about. It is a France nearly filled with Nazi sympathy and coursing with rage against Jews. It is remarkably easy to slip into the crevices of the German police and Nazism for many upper class citizens, so much so that there is a society of sympathizers that come across more Mafioso than Gestapo.
For Lucien, a farmboy living in the Lot region with a penchant for slaughtering animals with his bare hands, the war is meaningless. He is simple-minded but not stupid, choosing to exist in a world of rudimentary tasks and straightforward looks. When he is refused permission to join the French Resistance by those who believe he isn’t smart enough to be relevant to the cause, he instead finds himself a fast ally of the French Gestapo and becomes a member of the German police.
This is something that gives him pride and purpose, much like a modern inner city youth could find joining a violent street gang. Indeed, Malle’s picture is about a loss of innocence and the discovery of vile purpose. Lucien soon takes up with a family because he falls in love with a Jewish girl named France Horn (Aurore Clément). To say his loyalties, or lack thereof, become muddled due to this newfound love would be an understatement, as Malle’s exploration of Lucien’s ultimate character is unflinching and grand.
For Malle, the entire crux of Lacombe Lucien lies with the fact that we have been unable to relate to and identify with Nazis and those who do such great evil in our world. Malle’s interest lies in the details, in what makes us different and what doesn’t make us different. It’s true that there is little to separate the character of Lucien from any other simple-minded farmboy. Malle’s interest is in what leads him to his newfound role and his exploration of the raw simplicity of this is astounding.
There is something purely animalistic about Lucien and Blaise, who never acted prior to this picture, does a marvellous job bringing that out into the open. It is necessary for the character to experience things on a raw level and to react rather than to act, so Blaise’s performance is right on the mark. There’s something unique and fresh about him as he struts around as a member of the German police and, later, perhaps becomes innocent again after making a critical, dangerous decision.
It is important, for Malle, to have Lucien exist outside of our human sympathies. In many ways he is like a dangerous animal that we cannot hate but cannot adore. We dislike him almost instantly when he is presented on screen, but there are no clear reasons as to why. Much like there are no clear reasons to the decisions he makes, our distrust and dislike of him flow almost organically.
Lacombe Lucien is not an easy picture to watch, both for the subject matter and the way it is presented. Malle’s film isn’t violent or disturbing in any broad fashion, but there is something truly frightening about the ease and casualness of the French Nazi supporters and the way they carry on in grand style. And, in the middle of it all, there’s something truly scary about the effortlessness with which Lucien subscribes to the horror without flinching.
Trailer:
