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 June 10, 1961 |
| Running time | 88 min |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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.[citation needed]
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, a pair of lovers, plan the perfect crime—the murder of the woman's husband, Simon Carala. The murderer, Julien Tavernier an ex-Foreign Legion parachutist officer veteran of Indochina and Algeria, abseils up the office block to kill the husband in his office without being seen, but on going to his car, realizes that he has 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, who has admired Julien. 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, he is caught out and shoots them with Julien's handgun. 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 and Carala's wife.
[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
- "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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