Film Forum

France, 1963
Directed by Louis Malle
Starring Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet
In French with English subtitles
Approx. 109 min. 35mm.

“Arguably the finest of Malle's early films, this is a calmly objective but profoundly compassionate account of the last 24 hours in the life of a suicide. Ronet gives a remarkable, quietly assured performance as the alcoholic who, upon leaving a clinic, visits old friends in the hope that they will provide him with a reason to live. They don't, and Malle's achievement lies not only in his subtle but clear delineation of his protagonist's emotions but in his grasp of life's compromises; his portrait of Parisian society is astringent, never facile. A small gem, polished to perfection by an unassuming professional.” – Time Out

Reviews

“The film is a triumph of style. It is quiet and indicative. It doesn't explain a lot, but we understand a lot about it all the same.”
– Roger Ebert

“A penetrating study of a man at the end of his rope, and a searing re-creation of a social milieu”
– Don Druker, Chicago Reader