Synopsis
Murmur of the Heart (Le Souffle au cœur, 1971) — watch online on iFILM Louis Malle's Franco-Italian-German coming-of-age comedy-drama. Fifteen-year-old Laurent Chevalier navigates Catholic school, contraband books, and a stifling bourgeois household in early-1950s provincial France, restless in ways he can't yet name.
A bout of scarlet fever leaves him with a heart murmur, and his mother whisks him off to a convalescent clinic — away from his brothers, his school, and the routines that have kept him half-formed. What happens at the sanatorium is Malle's whole point: freedom, idleness, and closeness can tip into territory nobody planned for. The director handles it without a dropped jaw or a wagging finger, which is precisely what makes the film unusual.
The script earned Malle an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. From the director who made Elevator to the Gallows and Au Revoir les Enfants, this is the most intimate film of his French period — and the one most likely to surprise viewers who expect a simple scandal. Stream Murmur of the Heart (1971) online on iFILM.
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