Murmur of the Heart – 1971
aka Souffle au coeur, Le
Director
Louis Malle

Writer
Louis Malle

Cast
Lea Massari
Benoît Ferreux
Daniel Gélin

Review by Zetes

A beautiful coming of age story,

There have been a million coming of age stories in the history of the world, most of them probably in the film medium. What a pathetic thing to have to endure something as trite as the American film American Pie when something like The 400 Blows exists.

Murmur of the Heart will remind most of that classic, and, akin to French films such as Zero for Conduct, The 400 Blows, and Malle’s own Au Revoir Les Enfantes, it is excellently acted, both by the adults in the film and the children (here, though, they’re teens), and it is infinitely more truthful than most American films of the same genre. Murmur of the Heart falls just short of The 400 Blows, but it is a worthy successor to it.

Beware, though. This film’s main theme is sexuality, and there are some very disturbing scenes, even thought the mood of the film is quite light-hearted. 9/10