Flick Review < The Lovers / Les Amants | Louis Malle (1958)

Director Louis Malle

Stars Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, Jean-Marc Bory

Based on the novel Point de Lendemain by Dominique Vivant

The Lovers was Malle’s second feature film, made when he was 25 years old.

This film was highly controversial for its depiction of allegedly obscene material when released in the United States.A showing in Ohio resulted in the criminal conviction of the theatre manager for public depiction of obscene material. He appealed his conviction to the US Supreme Court, which reversed the conviction and ruled that the film was not obscene in its written opinion (Jacobellis v. Ohio). The case resulted in Justice Potter Stewart’s famously subjective definition of hard-core pornography: “I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”

     Jeanne Moreau & Louis Malle, Venise, 1958

The Lovers, 1958                                                Poster Designed by Karel Teissig