Lacombe, Lucien

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Lacombe, Lucien

1974,

2h 15m,

Drama

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Watchlist

100%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

In Louis Malle's lauded drama, Lucien Lacombe is a young man living in rural France during World War II who seeks to join the French Resistance. When he is rejected due to his youth, the resentful Lucien allies himself with the Nazis and joins the Gallic arm of their Gestapo. Lucien grows to enjoy the power that comes with his position, but his life is complicated when he falls for France Horn, a beautiful young Jewish woman.

Helen Frizell

Sydney Morning Herald

Apr 2, 2026

I have no illusion that it will draw mass audiences, but those who care for quality in film should make certain of seeing it.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

Sep 25, 2023

The picture is a knockout, and the flaws don't diminish its stature.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Apr 29, 2018

4/4

[Malle's film is] about a particular kind of human being, one capable of killing and hurting, one incapable of knowing or caring about his real motives, one who would be a prime catch for basic training and might make a good soldier and not ask questions.

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John Simon

Esquire Magazine

Jul 28, 2020

Lacombe, Lucien is remarkable, first, because it brings to film perhaps better than ever before (including even Bergman's powerful Shame) the sense of the banality of evil.

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Jacoba Atlas

Los Angeles Free Press

Dec 4, 2019

Objectivity is achieved while forcing a reassessment of our own perceptions. It is a truly remarkable film.

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Marty Mapes

Movie Habit

May 1, 2015

4/4

A generation after WWII, Louis Malle shed light on French collaborators

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Albus L

Jul 3, 2018

Co-written and directed by Louis Malle based on some of his own experiences and on actual characters, which opens like "Rules of the Game" where the title character, Lacombe Lucien played by Pierre Blaise uses his slingshot to kill a bird whistling while on top of a tree before game hunting rabbits. Luciwen is very destructive but not sufficient or mature enough to join the underground French movement. He is then taken under the wing of some French policemen working for the gestapo.

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Louis Malle

Director

Pierre Blaise

Lucien Lacombe

Aurore Clément

France Horn

Holger Löwenadler

Albert Horn

Therese Giehse

Bella Horn

Loumi Iacobesco

Betty Beaulieu

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Synopsis

In Louis Malle's lauded drama, Lucien Lacombe is a young man living in rural France during World War II who seeks to join the French Resistance. When he is rejected due to his youth, the resentful Lucien allies himself with the Nazis and joins the Gallic arm of their Gestapo. Lucien grows to enjoy the power that comes with his position, but his life is complicated when he falls for France Horn, a beautiful young Jewish woman.

Director: Louis Malle
Producer: Louis Malle, Claude Nedjar
Screenwriter: Louis Malle, Patrick Modiano
Production Co: Universal Pictures, NEF - Nouvelles Éditions de Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 30, 1974, Original
Release Date (DVD): Mar 28, 2006
Runtime: 2h 15m

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