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| The Fire Within - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Louis Malle
Actors: Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Hubert Deschamps, Mona Dol, Rena Dupra
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $19.90
You Save: $10.05 (34%)
New (42) Used (9) from $19.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 24454
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Restored, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 108
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: CC1750DDVD
UPC: 715515029520
EAN: 0715515029520
ASIN: B00152VXU8
Theatrical Release Date: October 7, 1966
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: CRITERION let another great one go.
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Product Description
After rising to international stardom with such seminal crowd-pleasers as The Lovers and Zazie dans le metro Louis Malle gave his fans a shock with The Fire Within (Le feu follet) a penetrating study of individual and social inertia. Maurice Ronet (Elevator to the Gallows) in an implosive haunted performance plays Alain Leroy a self-destructive writer who resolves to kill himself and spends the next twenty-four hours trying to reconnect with a host of wayward friends. Unsparing in its portrait of Alain's inner turmoil and shot with remarkable clarity The Fire Within is one of Malle's darkest and most personal films.SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:New restored high-definition digital transferArchival interviews with director Louis Malle and actor Maurice RonetMalle's Fire Within a new video program featuring interviews with actor Alexandra Stewart and filmmakers Philippe Collin and Volker SchlondorffJusqu'au 23 Juillet a 2005 documentary short about Pierre Drieu la Rochelle's novel Le feu follet and dadaist writer Jacques Rigaut (the inspiration for the main character) featuring actor Mathieu Amalric writer Didier Daeninckx and Cannes festival curator Pierre-Henri DeleauNew and improved English subtitle translationPLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by critic Michel Ciment and historian Peter CowieSystem Requirements:Running Time: 108 minutes Language: French Subtitles: EnglishFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE Rating: NR UPC: 715515029520 Manufacturer No: CC1750DDVD
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Inner Darkness in the City of Lights. May 9, 2008
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
In his devastating memoir, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, author William Styron recalls wandering the streets of Paris while suffering from suicidal depression, knowing that he may never experience the city again. Louis Malle explores this same psychological wilderness in his 1963 film, The Fire Within (Le feu follet). The film follows Malle's films, The Lovers (Les Amants) (1958), Zazie in the Metro (Zazie dans le metro) (1960), and A Very Private Affair (Vie privee) (1962). Based on the novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Maurice Ronet (Elevator to the Gallows) gives a brilliant performance as Alain Leroy, an alcoholic writer at a rest home in Versailles. Depressed and disillusioned with his life, Alain decides to commit suicide after first visiting his bourgeois friends in Paris one last time, where within 24 hours, and after finishing Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited, he is even more resolved to end his life. (The are many parallels between the self-destructive lives of Alain Leroy and Fitzgerald. Both are divorced, alcoholic writers living in Paris.) It is deeply affecting to watch Alain drinking at the Cafe de Flore, knowing that he is contemplating suicide, and knowing that he may never experience Paris again. The Fire Within is ultimately a dark study in despair and self-destruction, reminiscent in many ways of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's best work. Jeanne Moreau also stars as beautiful Alexandra Stewart.
The Criterion edition of The Fire Within features a newly restored digital transfer; interviews with director Louis Malle and actor Maurice Ronet; "Malle's Fire Within," a video program featuring interviews with actor Alexandra Stewart and filmmakers Philippe Collin and Volker Schloendorff; "Jusqu'au 23 Juillet," a 2005 documentary short about the film and its source novel Le feu follet, by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, featuring actor Mathieu Amalric, writer Didier Daeninckx, and Cannes festival curator Pierre-Henri Deleau; and a booklet featuring new essays by critic Michel Ciment and film historian Peter Cowie. Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
 A look at a suicidal person June 12, 2008
1 out of 12 found this review helpful
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
The Fire Within, or "Le Feu Follet" in French is Lois Malle's fifth feature film.
The film is about Alain Leroy who is in a private clinic battling alcoholism. One day he checks out in a suididal state and debates about whether or not to kill himself while visiting old friends.
The special features include interviews with director Louis Malle and actor Maurice Ronet, new interviews with actress Alexandra Stewart and filmmakers Philippe Collin and Volker Schloendorff, and the 2005 short documentary "Jusqu'au 23 Juillet" which is about the film the novel it is based on.
This is hard film to watch due to it's theme of self-destructive behavior.
Spleen June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very enchanting film well worth watching several times. Not as depressing as it sounds, it is about an ex-alcoholic, tired of life and/or unable to connect with other humans, visiting the friends who he used to party with for a last time. Beautiful shots, interesting characters, superb acting (also, Jeanne Moreau appears for a few minutes), Paris in the summer. All to the sound of Satie's Gymnopedie...
A lifesaver June 5, 2008
This film perfectly captures suicide. The pathology of it. The tragedy of it. The absurdity of it.
In capturing suicide and this prideful, hopeless, self-abusive pathology, it also provides catharsis.
Really the most noble use of film is contained in this picture. Tragedy in the highest sense of the word.
Criterion does it again June 12, 2008
What a great movie and a great job by Criterion folks. If you're into 60's French cinema, and Louis Malle in particular, you probably already must know about this. A must have. Notice the gorgeous Alexandra Stewart as Solange...
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