“LACOMBE LUCIEN” PRESENTED BY THE FRENCH INSTITUTE: 4/14/09 AT 7:30 PM.
If you’re a History Channel buff like myself, then you probably not only analyzed the machination of the Second World War but cinematized it as well. Accordingly there have been an over-abundance of films chronicling the epoch, though most to my chagrin. Few deliver a historic acuteness of both the times and the individuals shaping it.
Well Lacombe Lucien, directed by Louis Malle, does. Often characterized as a “banality of evil” flick, it is that and so much more. Lucien is an 18 year-old farm boy wooed by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France. However his cling to his identity starts to crumble when he falls for the daughter of a local Jewish tailor.
The film is intensely personal while maintaining a factual account of 1944 society. Presented by the French Institute, the film is in French with English subtitles.
Tuesday, April 14 at 12:30 & 7:30pm
55 East 59th Street (Between Park and Madison Avenues)
Admission: $10
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