The Fire Within

1963 bummer

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Alain is separated from his American wife and recovering from alcoholism at a hospital. One day, he decides to kill himself. First, he hitches a ride to Paris to meet up with some old friends and search for some reason to live.

More Louis Malle but this one is a very exhausting and cynical movie. The tone is set very early on and is unrelenting. There's a great scene in the hospital at the beginning where the protagonist is alone with his thoughts. He moves about the room, adjusts things, studies knickknacks, paddywacks, doodles. There's such an attention to little details in that scene and it really pulls you into the mind of this guy who, once the gun appears on screen, you know is planning to off himself. Maurice Ronet stars. As in Elevator to the Gallows, he's terrific in this, a quiet performance that has this terrific tension boiling just beneath the surface. Just a pitch perfect performance. The direction isn't heavy-handed, mostly passively eavesdropping on conversations Alain has with his friends. However, there is a lot of symbolism, and I don't understand one symbol--a round-headed wooden toy that is shown a few times and locked in a briefcase at the end. I really like the music, Erik Satie's bleak piano score that sounded really familiar. Poignant and depressing stuff, a very gray movie. It's very interesting to watch this movie so close to My Dinner with Andre. They're very different in tone and theme, but there are definitely some connections between the two.

Note: There are a lot of slug bugs (aka punch buggies) in this movie. Enjoy it with a friend!