Freud: The Movie.

Bird, my joy. Wonderful coming of age, and one of the greatest examples I've seen of the playful, invisible camera.

Fantastic, mature, and most importantly understated stoytelling already made this film a winner in my book. Add to that well done acting by the youthful lead and his mother and you and you got a movie on the cusp of greatness. Unfortunately, it's easy to see that that most people will never get past the themes of incest, which is sad. To me, though the film was just missing "something". No scene stuck out and no performance was fantastic. But, overall my very first french film was a winner.

Very enjoyable - if disturbing - and literate coming-of-age tale. Might be scoring this too low, it's very good.

A suspense film: will our young hero sleep with his mother? Mom looks great with no clothes on (making the conflict completely understandable), but otherwise this is a real drag

A fairly enjoyable coming-of-age story from Malle. It's very New Wave, with obvious 400 Blows influences and little scenes like "spinach tennis" and Laurent laying out his mother's clothes. The Oedipal themes are strong and somewhat compelling, although the film does seem to just flop around aimlessly at times. The humor kind of reminded me of Philip Roth: a little bit naughty and a little bit amusing, but not ever laugh-out-loud funny.

An extraordinary coming of age tale. About 15 minutes overlong which is the only thing preventing me scoring it 100.

The Oedipal themes are a bit offputting, but on the whole the movie really succeeds in creating a compelling story of sexual maturation, and the style and joy with which the picture is made is so affecting that I was never bored for a minute. The jazz soundtrack is fantastic, and the photography is really excellent - lots of graceful and varied camerawork, with an incredible eye to detail.

A beautiful, nearly flawless movie. The characters and performances are superb, the presentation of a particular French milieu and epoch is fascinating, and the film is in general an utter joy.

Great Movie

Le souffle au coeur: 9 // 7 // 7 // 8 // 7 // 8 // 9

Intelligent and sensitive. Malle is way ahead of most French directors of his time.

Somewhat unaffecting and inconsequential story about a kid with a serious Oedipus complex. It's put together well enough, but none of the characters are all that interesting. It's like The 400 Blows with an emphasis on sex and less adoration for its protagonist.

Malle does these coming-of-age stories with such an authentic and realistic touch, always a treat. Great performances all around, especially the leads, and the jazz soundtrack fits in nicely. ***SPOILER*** The scene which acts as the culmination of the Oedipal themes (which were largely inconsequential up to this point) is about as graceful as you can make incest. ***SPOILER***

Incredibly tender and exceptionally unprejudiced, this intimate film by Malle balance excellently between upbeat comedy and solemn soreness. The film's melancholy is befriended with - and often overshadowed by - buoyant gleefulness... Unusually entertaining and touching.