The Eternal Child

The filmmaker at work, in a still from Louis Malle, le Révolté.

A new documentary sheds fresh light on Louis Malle, the nouvelle vague contemporary whose films tackled complicated subjects with innocence and curiosity

By Joan Juliet Buck

Louis Malle, one of the most talented and controversial film directors of the 20th century, was drawn to taboos as surely as kids are drawn to flames and trouble. Though a contemporary of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, he never wasted a moment being a critic, and was therefore not considered a member of the nouvelle vague. His wealthy Northern French family’s fortune was founded on sugar beets; even today, their beautifully packaged, fancy La Perruche sugar cubes look hand-cut. His parents were not pleased that their brilliant youngest son wanted to become a film director instead of running the family business, so to placate them, Malle enrolled at the Paris institute of advanced cinematographic studies, known as l’ READ ON