The Fire Within

The Fire Within

Directed by Louis Malle • 1963 • France
Starring Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Jeanne Moreau

After garnering international acclaim for such seminal crowd-pleasers as THE LOVERS and ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO, 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.

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The Fire Within
  • The Fire Within

    Directed by Louis Malle • 1963 • France
    Starring Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Jeanne Moreau

    After garnering international acclaim for such seminal crowd-pleasers as THE LOVERS and ZAZIE DANS LE MÉTRO, Louis Malle gave his fans a shock with THE FIRE WITHIN (LE FEU FOLLET), a penetrating study of i...

Extras

  • Louis Malle on THE FIRE WITHIN

    In September 1994 Louis Malle was interviewed for German television, by journalist Angelika Wittlich, about his career in cinema. The interview, which took place in his office in Paris, would be one of his last—he passed away on November 23, 1995. Presented here is an excerpt concerning THE FIRE ...

  • “Portrait d’acteur”: Maurice Ronet, 1966

    Maurice Ronet had recently directed his first film, LE VOLEUR DE TIBIDABO (1964), when he was interviewed about his film acting for the series “Portrait d’acteur.” That interview, excerpted here, was directed by Charles Chaboud and originally aired on September 3, 1966.

  • Malle’s Fire Within

    In these interviews, conducted in 2008, actor Alexandra Stewart and filmmakers Philippe Collin and Volker Schlöndorff discuss the making of THE FIRE WITHIN.

  • Jusqu’au 23 juillet

    The following 2005 documentary, JUSQU’AU 23 JUILLET (UNTIL JULY 23), juxtaposes THE FIRE WITHIN with its literary source, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s LE FEU FOLLET, a 1931 novel on dadaist writer Jacques Rigaut. Directed by Noël Simsolo, it includes actor Mathieu Amalric, writer Didier Daeninckx, ...