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May 2008 sees the forty-year anniversary of the Paris May ‘68 protest, an uprising driven by students incensed by the institutional conformity and old-fashioned values of French culture. The resulting sit-ins, protests, and confrontations with authority spread like wildfire until over a third of France’s labourers and manual workers were affected by the fervour of dissolution. Paris was brought to a virtual standstill and as events turned increasingly violent the number of arrests and injuries mounted. Aside from the general disillusionment felt towards traditional French society many of the protestors espoused specific left-wing causes. However, eventually the Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle returned from brief refuge to triumph more powerful than ever in the subsequent June elections. While many of the more hardened political protestors saw this as a failure of their fiercely left-wing standpoints May 1968 is still seen as having a huge social impact in France as conservative morality was replaced by liberal values and idealism. Although contemporary filmic reactions to these momentous events were sparse the May 68 riots have been explored on screen sporadically by different directors. Roman Coppola’s ‘CQ’ (2001) depicted the filmmaking community of the era in a humorous light while masters such as Bernado Bertolucci and Philippe Garrel explored the immediate effects of the riots on small microcosms of young people taking full advantage of the new free-spirited attitudes towards sex and drugs in ‘The Dreamers’ (2003) and ‘Regular Lovers’ (2005) respectively.
Before these more high-profile accounts Louis Malle directed ‘Milou En Mai’ in 1990. His account is notable as rather than focusing on the young people directly involved with the protests Malle examines their effects on a bourgeois family temporarily isolated in the French countryside; in other words, the kind of people to whom the original rioters were apparently opposed. This of course could have turned into a mocking piece that pokes fun at the upper classes who for one month suddenly found themselves facing a genuine and potentially damaging uprising but instead, in keeping with his deeply sympathetic humanist style, Malle finds humour and warmth in his strange and disparate group of over privileged characters. Malle was never as actively political in his scripts as his contemporaries were and as a filmmaker, he was often lumped in with French New Wave luminaries such as Godard and Truffaut when in fact Malle never actually wrote for Cahiers du Cinema and didn’t align himself with their idea of the auteur-ist tradition of the director as driving creative personality, instead producing many different films in varying genres and countries. Perhaps the only consistent theme running through his work is his aforementioned grasp of humanism and here especially Malle resists belittling neither his characters nor the political undercurrents. As a result of this hardened viewers may find his treatment of the May 68 happenings uncomfortably lighthearted, a treatment obvious from the opening shot. An elderly woman is shown in her kitchen listening to a radio broadcast pronouncing the beginnings of the student protests with the seizing of the Sorbonne University. The woman has tears in her eyes but a slow zoom-out reveals that her reaction is due to the onions she had been cutting up rather than any emotional engagement with the mounting unrest. Following this the lady has a heart attack and drops dead. She is the owner of a large estate on which she lives with her elderly son Milou (Michel Piccoli) who had been outside in the vast gardens trying to rescue his friend from an attack of bees, an opening image that perfectly captures the film’s resulting contrast between the ridiculous, the tragic, and a politicised backdrop as family members gather for the matriarch’s funeral.
The family slowly starts to arrive at the estate even though with the labourers on strike the actual funeral has been postponed indefinitely leaving the mother’s corpse lying ominously in her old bedroom. First to arrive is Camille (Miou-Miou), Milou’s daughter. She has two young sons and a slightly older and very curious daughter Francois (Jeanne Herry). Camille herself is presented instantly as right-wing, dismissively proclaiming the riots as “any excuse not to work”. Another of Milou’s daughters is a complete contrast to Camille, a young free-spirited lesbian who arrives with her new lover in tow. Georges (Michael Duchaussoy), Milou’s brother on the other hand, is a London correspondent journalist with a beautiful free-spirited actress girlfriend. Naturally such a large group of family members being reunited proves instantly chaotic as old power struggles and vastly different political views clash with especially high resonance due to the tense happenings in the city. No one can seem to agree whether the protests are a good thing or otherwise but no one in this opinionated family holds back their views. Providing the calming centre of this gathering is Milou himself, a warm, fair man who clearly loves his family regardless of their endless bickering. However, in keeping with the dysfunctional theme of the film even Milou is having an affair with the maid Adele (Martine Gautier) although this relationship is typically revealed as being open and loving rather than sordid, and Adele herself as a caring if unofficial member of the family as evidenced when the lawyer reveals that she is a surprise addition to receive a quarter of the will. Eventually another of Milou’s sons arrives straight from Paris, the only one to have experienced the new climate of freedom firsthand. He is completely behind the strikes and shows particular enthusiasm for the free love being practiced. The son has his eternally frisky and libidinous lorry driver friend with him who provides comic relief in contrast to his friend’s political speeches. He tells graphic stories of his sexual conquests with the young children in ear shot and also even suggests “checking out” Milou’s twelve-year-old granddaughter Francois in a few years’ time, much to her grandfather’s disgust.
After their initial antagonism subsides slightly the family members start to relax somewhat, and one particular scene sees the entire group sitting in the sunny pastoral country grounds smoking a joint. The entire family, from grandfather to youngest granddaughter and even the uptight Camille, partake in the drug. Everyone naturally begins to open up further as discussions of sex turn even more frank and several family members start singing the protestors songs out loud. It’s a testament as to how the revolutionary spirit of the time spread like wildfire even to this bourgeois isolated family relaxing in the intergenerational bucolic splendour of their vineyards and estate. Of course, it is ironic that such wealthy people were temporarily co-opting left wing protest songs but contemporary hindsight shows us that the effects of the strike weren’t really political but generally social; for example although the family still bicker about the estate and no one wants to lose their inherited wealth at least their general attitudes towards each other, sex, and drugs, are slowly opening up. This hedonistic atmosphere of course doesn’t last. Just as their party threatens to turn into a worrying, given the many familial ties, sex orgy two similarly wealthy business owners turn up at the house warning that their factory has become occupied by strikers. This spreads fear amongst the more conservative family members who worry that they too may soon be targeted by rogue groups now roaming the countryside. This and the resulting electrical blackout cause the group to retreat into the countryside night leading to the darkest but also conversely most farcical scenes. The family quickly lose essential items and descend to the level of savages living around a campfire in a muddy cave after the panicked brother mistakes some approaching woodcutters for armed soldiers. In their weary state the family tensions that have been simmering now erupt and everyone has a final confrontation while some, including the highly-strung and put-open Camille, suffer a breakdown. Eventually level-headed maid Adele finds them and informs them of De Gaulle’s return to office and the end of the strike thus allowing the funeral to take place. The film pleasingly brings to mind the pre-media saturated times of the 1960s as their only updates regarding the uprising come from radio reports that play loudly over many of the key scenes of the film including even the reading of the matriarch’s last rites, where the priest stops to offer his views. Once the electricity cuts out the resulting misinformation causes much comedy.
However, what is most pleasing is the general mixture of comic lightness and level-headed political commentary Malle procures from his semi-absurdist situations. Rather than engage directly with the politics involved he instead revels in the smaller, more personal freedoms May 68 afforded to people young and old. He also keeps us guessing with his ambiguous yet respectable take on his characters. For example Milou, the oldest and most comfortable member of the family is also the most free-spirited and open-minded as evidenced by scenes in which he joyously flirts with his brother’s attractive actress girlfriend, wades fearlessly into a lake to catch fish, or dutifully answers his granddaughter Francois’ many curious and increasingly awkward questions- Francois overhears many adult conversations regarding the newly popular contraceptive pill and her aunt’s lesbianism, whose lover she accidentally sees tied to a bed fast asleep one morning. Milou explains to her that maybe her aunt is simply worried that her lover will try to get away. Her mother Camille meanwhile is set up as a character I instantly thought I wouldn’t like. She is right-wing, uptight, and barely conceals her affair with the family lawyer from her hardworking doctor husband. However, by the end of the film she elicits at least some sympathy as she breaks down, her occasionally brash callousness perhaps the result of her hectic lifestyle and the rigorous demands and rigidity of marriage and motherhood proving too much for her.
These various character dynamics cause the main tensions and interests within the film while Malle’s non-auteur-ist direction is typically un-showy yet still displays the assuredness of a long-time master. He uses steady and occasionally long panning, tracking, and zoom shots that allow the brilliant dialogue confrontations to unfurl at their own pace while beautiful wide exterior shots reveal the surrounding French countryside. The music is playful and jazzy, almost typically French and this coupled with the presence of several respected old hand actors and the pastoral setting means that the film on first impression may seem uncomfortably close to the kind of insipid French prestige pictures that were popular in the early 90’s and usually starred Gerard Depardieu. Indeed, some may find a film like this addressing such strong political subject matter something of a paradox but for me this would miss the point slightly. Malle uses May 1968 as a background against which to examine these particular characters’ lives but he does so with respect and dignity without belittling the revolutionary intentions of the original protestors. For me this is more of a triumph than say, Godard’s ‘Weekend’ (1968). It’s violent attack on bourgeois values through form (his infamous nine-minute tracking shot of a traffic jam) and subject matter (cannibalism and long didactic speeches regarding consumerism) may be much more radical but has dated poorly, now appearing cold and hysterical. Malle’s film doesn’t wave its political views in your face but instead asks you to look at their effects on a family who despite their wealth, standing, and obvious flaws can still be likable and human, and this is ‘Milou en Mai’s’ biggest victory. It is an intelligent comedy of manners that doesn’t condescend towards its characters and more importantly respects its audience too.
Country: France
Budget:
Length: 107mins
Filmography:
‘CQ’, 2001, Roman Coppola, United Artists
‘The Dreamers’, 2003, Bernardo Bertolucci, Recorded Picture Company (RPC)
‘Regular Lovers’, 2005, Philippe Garrel, Maïa Films
Pub/2008
More like this:
Au Revoir Les Enfants, 1987, directed by Louis Malle
Black Moon, 1975, directed by Louis Malle
Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without A Face), 1960, directed by Georges Franju