Louis Malle is on record as finding this the first of his early films with which he was fully satisfied. I choose not to argue with him although I didn't find too much wrong with the others. What is indisputable here is that director and leading actor (Maurice Ronet) were in complete accord with both being entitled to pat themselves on the back. Though based on a celebrated novel Malle has embellished this with his own touches and succeeded against all the odds in making Paris empty and vacuous - as seen, of course, through the jaded eyes of the protagonist - which is quite a trick if anybody asks you. It's not so much Paris as the people in it, of course, people who are all good friends of the protagonist and none of whom can persuade him that life really is worth living. It's a fine ensemble piece dominated by a central role and if technically - in terms of when it was made - a product of the New Wave then certainly one of the more accomplished and professional of the genre. Should really be on everyone's list.
Review of The Fire Within
