Le Feu Follet (aka The Fire Within) (1963)

Separated from his wife who lives in New York, a recovering alcoholic (Maurice Ronet) at a Versailles clinic is despondent and plans to commit suicide. On the last day of his life, he returns to Paris to visit old friends in the hope they might give him an incentive to live. Based on the novel WILL O' THE WISP by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle and directed by Louis Malle (MURMUR OF THE HEART). This remarkable movie remains one of Malle's two or three best films. Using the music of Erik Satie as an underscore, Malle takes us on an uncompromising soul searching journey of a man in emotional pain who's reached the end of his tether and what he finds is so bleak that he can't justify his existence. His suicide note which is the last image we see in a punch in the gut. Elegantly filmed in B&W by Ghislain Cloquet (YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT), Malle gives the film an almost documentary feel to it as Ronet (in an excellent performance) roams through Paris. It's a bleak film to be sure but done with such artistry that it demands to be seen. With Jeanne Moreau, Alexandra Stewart, Bernard Noel, Jacques Sereys and Lena Skerla.