The Fire Within (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Even though apparently aged, black and white, and treatment, this film packs a wallop. Timeless themes and beautifully filmed. Definitely not your Hollywood movie, and not a cheerful one either.

A difficult film to review, but one other person here included riveting in their review. If I had only one word to describe this movie, that would be it. I went into it knowing how it would end, and I still found myself gasping at the final act. I am not familiar with the director or the actors, but they all combine to create a compelling story that centers around one man’s struggle with depression, alcoholism, and loneliness. It’s been 4 months since his last drink, he’s deemed cured by his doctor, and now he must tangle with the demons quieted by alcohol. I also view it as an effective microcosm of the overarching sense of existential dread that faces a person when they realize they can’t supplicate themselves with career, family, drugs, money, or even love. Isn’t that what’s keeping everyone around him intact while he unravels in front of them? Before viewing this, I thought “Melancholia” was the best representation of depression ever put on film. I have much to reconsider. They are such different films in terms of plot, atmosphere, and the protagonist’s control of their fate, but each captures that sense of “this is who I am” and how lonely and isolating depression can be.

About one hundred minutes of self-pity, acted well, filmed effectively, yet marred by constant pseudo-intellectual claptrap. Anyone who compares this movie to some of the masterpieces of French literature has a very different set of aesthetic values from mine. Movies that attempt to do what literature does are doomed to fail. Malle went on to direct some of my favorite films, and this one has been justly overshadowed by his many successful productions.

My favorite of many brilliant Louis Malle films. This film is poetic. The dialogue is deep and searching as the main character weaves through the streets of his alcoholic 20's. It is relatable in that many go through a time of vigor and drinking and partying and excess and women or men and somewhere around 25-30 the party is over and its time for family and career, etc. The difference is he found himself alone at this age after years of excess and failed relationships. He doesn't understand the world and it doesn't understand him. What is left for him- he asking throughout, what is there to for someone of his character and delicate temperament. Through whispers and hints, we see glimpses of what he was like when he seemed to own the city. This idea of his former self is fascinating and certainly tragic. Maurice Ronet is very real on the screen- very much alive and heartbreaking. Worth seeing at least twice. Also, check out Malle's  Murmur of the Heart (The Criterion Collection)  for a completely different but incredible movie.

The most beautifully sorrowful film ever made? Perhaps.

Usually when a film is a classic masterpiece, I don't bother to review it because it already has hundreds of five-star ratings. But it doesn't seem like many viewers on Amazon Prime have seen this work of art. Malle was a brilliant director and I think this is his best film. It is certainly my favorite by him and one of my favorites in general. A writer is going to kill himself but first he tries to connect with old friends. It is a bleak film. Beautifully filmed. You won't forget this movie. Highest recommendation.

I was able to view it because my Frence is not good enough to view it without English subtitles

This is my favorite film. It's equal in depth to the literary works of Nabokov, Flaubert, and Baudelaire. The story is realistic, human, and haunting, the dialog is brilliant, and Maurice Ronet gives the performance of his life. In the "Special Features" that comes on most DVDs I suggest you watch "Jusqu' au 23 Juillet" before you watch the main feature to better appreciate it. This is cinematic art.