Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
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| Ascenseur pour l'échafaud | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster. |
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| Directed by | Louis Malle |
| Produced by | Jean Thuillier |
| Written by | Noël Calef Louis Malle Roger Nimier |
| Starring | Jeanne Moreau Maurice Ronet Georges Poujouly Yori Bertin |
| Music by | Miles Davis |
| Cinematography | Henri Decaë |
| Editing by | Léonide Azar |
| Distributed by | Rialto Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 29, 1958 (France) June 10, 1961 (US) |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator. The film is often associated by critics with the film noir style.[1]
The score by Miles Davis has been described by jazz critic Phil Johnson as "the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep."[1]
[edit] Synopsis
The central characters, lovers Florence Carala and Julien Tavernier (Moreau and Ronet), plan the perfect crime — the murder of Florence's husband, Simon Carala. The murderer, Julien, an ex-Foreign Legion parachutist officer veteran of Indochina and Algeria, rappels up the office block on a rope to kill Carala in his office without being seen, but on going to his car, realizes he left the rope dangling outside the building. Leaving his expensive car unlocked and with the keys in the ignition, he returns to remove the evidence, but in doing so becomes trapped in the lift as the building closes down for the weekend.
In the meantime, the car is stolen by a young couple, Louis and Veronique (Poujouly and Bertin), who have watched Julien. Veronique, a flower seller at a kiosk next to the Carala building, is seen in the car by Florence, who assumes Julien has run off with Veronique. Louis discovers Julien's pistol and his miniature camera in the glove box and fantasizes about being a secret agent and war hero. They stay overnight with a German couple with a preference for fast cars and a swinging lifestyle at a motel, with Louis embarrassing himself by telling war stories, supposedly of his own experiences. Veronique takes pictures of the two couples with Tavernier's camera. When Louis attempts to steal their luxury car, the man threatens him with a "gun" (really a cigar), but Louis shoots the couple with Julien's handgun. Later, Louis considers himself saved when he realizes the mistaken identity as a newspaper has the headline "Julien Tavernier: Assassin [Murderer]" on its front pages, but Florence visits the couple in Veronique's flat (after the couple's failed suicide attempt prompted by Veronique) and challenges them over the error of others.
While the police still consider Carala's death a suicide, Julien is charged with the killing of the Germans, and his lift-related alibi is not believed. Much of the suspense comes from Julien's attempt to escape from the lift. Although he succeeds, the murder plot is eventually discovered through photographs taken by the young couple with the camera they find in his car that also contains photographs of Julien with Florence.
[edit] References
- ^ Phil Johnson, "Discs: Jazz—Miles Davis/Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Fontana)," Independent on Sunday, March 14, 2004.
[edit] External links
- Elevator to the Gallows at the Internet Movie Database
- Ascenseur pour l'échafaud at Allmovie
- "Louis Malle on the Ground Floor" essay by Terrence Rafferty at The Criterion Collection
- Elevator to the Gallows: A Jazz Film of Collaborative Integrity, a detailed academic discussion of film and score, with clips
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