Laurent, a 14-year-old boy, is part of a bourgeois family living in Dijon, France. The youngest of three boys, Laurent takes after his mischevious brothers, learning the ins-and-outs of growing up. He drinks and smokes thanks to his older brothers, even losing his virginity due to them, but Laurent doesn't have a closer friend in the world than his mother. When Laurent is diagonised with a heart murmur, he is accompanied by his mother to a nice, mountain resort where they can relax. Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heat is a daring coming-of-age story that is focused primarily on the sexual maturation of young Laurent. Highly intelligent, Laurent is a young boy whose been thrown head first by his brothers into a world he doesn't understand, learning very quickly about sexuality and maturation. While Laurent is desperate to grow up fast, his mother is seeking escape from the confines of her marriage, partaking in a marital affair. Murmur of the Heart is a film that received a lot of attention because of its subtle incestuous nature, using this taboo topic as a way to comment on a young man's confusion about love and lust. Laurent is a child who doesn't fully grasp the difference between love and lust, confusing the two with his own mother. He is a lonely individual who views sex and/or love as a right of passage, which inevitable leads to a strange relationship with his loving mother, who is quite oblvious to her son's warped perception. With Murmur of the Heart, Malle seems to be commenting on the turbulent nature of adolescence, showing a world that forces children to grow up fast. Tender, funny, and provocative, Murmur of the Heart is a unique coming of age story showcasing the fragile nature of maturation and how easily one's perceptions can become warped.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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