The Wisp (film)

Movie
German title	The will-o'-the-wisp
Original title	Le feu follet
Country of production	France
original language	French
Publishing year	1963
length	108 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	Louis Malle
script	Louis Malle
production	Alain Quefféléan
music	Erik Satie
camera	Ghislain Cloquet
cut	Suzanne Baron
occupation
Maurice Ronet : Alain Leroy Léna Skerla : Lydia Yvonne Clech : Mademoiselle Farnoux Hubert Deschamps : D'Averseau Jean-Paul Moulinot : Dr. La Barbinais Mona Dol : Madame La Barbinais Pierre Moncorbier : Moraine René Dupuy : Charlie Bernard Tiphaine : Milou Bernard Noël : Dubourg Ursula Kubler : Fanny Jeanne Moreau : Eva Alexandra Stewart : Long

The Irrlicht (Original title: Le feu follet ) is a French black and white film by Louis Malle from 1963. The director had also written the script. It is based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle . The main roles are cast with Maurice Ronet , Léna Skerla and Yvonne Clech . In France, the film first came out on October 15, 1963; in the Federal Republic of Germany it had its premiere three years later on October 7th.

action

A man in his early thirties gives himself an account of his botched life. He is determined to commit suicide, not because he can no longer endure existence, but because he no longer wants to endure it. Love and heavy drinking wore him out early on, and he has just undergone rehab. Burned out inside, he left his room in the dusty sanatorium, where he had surrounded himself with the mementos of his dreary existence as if in a mausoleum , in order to visit acquaintances and friends again in the last 24 hours of his life. Even if he half-subconsciously hopes that someone could explain a meaning of life to him after all, in the end he only expects confirmation of his contempt for the world. One of his friends assures him: “Life is good”, but that doesn't convince him. Alain goes back to his sanatorium room, finishes reading the novel “ The Great Gatsby ”, puts the pistol to his chest and shoots himself.

criticism

The lexicon of international films draws the following conclusion: “Louis Malle develops from the novel [...] the portrait of an intellectual rebel against bourgeois mediocrity, whose narcissistic refusal to show the dark side of French existentialism. Observing in a cool and distant manner, the film simultaneously relates the individual fate to the social environment, which is characterized by materialism, egoism and cold feelings. "

The Protestant film observer also praised himself : "A film art work of high quality that will trigger discussions and should only be seen by mature people."

The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the work the rating “particularly valuable”.

Web links

• The Wisp in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Five pictures from the film at Cinema.de
• Extensive review at Filmsucht.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Source: Evangelischer Filmbeobachter , Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 72/1967, pp. 100 to 101
2. ↑ Lexikon des Internationale Films, rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 1832