Depressed Alain Leroy leaves the clinic where he was detoxified. He meets friends, acquaintances and women, trying to find a reason to continue living.
Acting
Ronet's hollow eyes do all the work.
Cinematography
Paris as beautiful prison, every frame.
Direction
Malle's merciless patience with despair.
Director
Louis Malle
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
Bernard Tiphaine
Milou
Bernard Noël
Dubourg
Ursula Vian-Kübler
Fanny
Jeanne Moreau
Eva
Alain Mottet
Urcel
Romain Bouteille
Jerome Minville
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Malle filmed Ronet's actual detox facility, blurring documentary and fiction. The patients? Real. The despair? Borrowed.
Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, the fascist novelist who inspired this, killed himself in 1945. Malle transforms collaborationist tragedy into universal ache—problematic? Discuss.
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