Thanks to the podcast You Must Remember This talking about the 1992 erotic thriller Damage this week, I wanted to highlight the entire nudity-filled career of French director Louis Malle. He directed several controversial films filled with sex, naked women, and boundary-breaking scenes that still have us talking today. Let's take a look at Louis Malle's hottest nude scenes!
The French director was born to wealthy parents in 1932. He was well-educated in a French boarding school, but it was there that he witnessed Gestapo raid the school and remove Jewish students - including a close friend of his. That experience really defined him and he would come back to exploring France in the 1940s for a few of his films - even some that would include nudity!
He became interested in cinema at a young age and even worked with Jacque Cousteau as a cameraman on his documentary The Silent World in 1956. At age 24, the young Louis Malle broke into the film industry as a director with 1957's Elevator to the Gallows. This is a masterful feature film with a jazzy soundtrack and a lot of thrills. This terrific film starred Jeanne Moreau whom Malle would direct in a nude scene the following year.
The Lovers
This film was an enormous international success and it stirred up quite a bit of controversy for the director who was barely 25 at the time. In 1958, The Lovers swept Europe and the US. Jeanne Moreau not only has hot sex scenes, but she also has an orgasm. This caused a great deal of controversy as the film focused on a married woman who seduces a stranger giving her a ride back from her boyfriend's place. How steamy!
The film was banned in the state of Ohio, but one cinema house decided to show it anyway. That led to a court case that made its way all the way to the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court ruled on the film, deeming that the film was not obscene. Justice Potter Stewart wrote about the argument on obscenity: "I know it when I see it. And the motion picture involved in this case is not that."
Murmur of the Heart
It was over a decade before Malle would return to skinema. In 1971, he broke his nudity fast in a big way with this arthouse favorite about a teen looking to get laid. That's a classic, relatable story! The young man goes to the local whorehouses and tries to check out women like Gila von Weitershausen. Hey, we're checking her out, too!
Lacombe Lucien
In 1974, Malle told a deeply dramatic story about a young man in Southern France toward the end of World War II. He falls in love with a Jewish woman. It's 1944 in France - bad things are on the way! Aurore Clement, however, brings some much-needed levity to the film when she hangs out naked. We see her breasts, bush, and buns as she walks around in the woods without her clothes!
Black Moon
Ah, Black Moon. This bizarre masterpiece from 1975 mixes fantasy with allegory as a woman played by Cathryn Harrison suffers an accident and stumbles into a fantastical world filled with creatures and genders battling each other in an actual war. It's trippy and war-torn which is a perfect encapsulation of the mid-1970s.
This post-apocalyptic fantasy gets VERY weird - especially when actress Alexandra Stewart takes out her breasts to breastfeed an old lady. You can watch that scene here:
Pretty Baby
After Black Moon, Malle moved to Hollywood to try his hand at directing Hollywood actors. The results were mixed! Louis Malle's Pretty Baby is still a very controversial film. In 1917 Louisiana, we see the inner workings of a brothel where a little girl is being raised by her prostitute mother. Susan Sarandon plays the mother and she looks STUNNING in this film. Her nude scenes are absolutely sensual. Sarandon never looked better than in Pretty Baby.
Why is this film so controversial? Well, the little girl was played by a 12-year-old Brooke Shields and there are very uncomfortable scenes such as when her mother auctions off her virginity. We also watch the young girl get married to a grown man. It's one of those films that makes you wonder what it's trying to say by telling this story. Shields has since talked about this at length and wrote about it in her book.
Atlantic City
Susan Sarandon came back to Louis Malle for 1980's epic film Atlantic City. We take a look at the mob in the seaside town while Sarandon plays a simple casino girl whose hubby pisses off the mob after stealing a load of drugs from them. That doesn't work out well for him, so he gets killed and leaves Sarandon alone...with the mob's loot. We'd love to be alone with Sarandon after watching her slip off her top in one scene.
Alamo Bay
The 1980s saw Malle obsessed with telling American stories and 1985's Alamo Bay was no different. This story was even based on truth as he showed us a Texan and Vietnam veteran who feels that immigrants are taking his jobs. It's a very Texas tale and it's not really a beloved Malle film. What is beloved is Amy Madigan and her sex scene with Ed Harris! Her B-cups will make you remember the Alamo!
May Fools
After his deeply personal film Goodbye Children (1987) did not earn the respect it deserved from the Oscars, Louis Malle returned to France to make challenging and personal pictures that meant a great deal to him. 1989's May Fools was one of those personal films!
In May Fools, a family in the French countryside gets together for a funeral. The reunion brings tension...and nudity. Dominique Blanc plays a hot young babe who whips out her big ol' baguettes at a party. It looks like dinner is served!
Damage
What is there to say about Louis Malle's attempt at a 90s erotic thriller? In his second-to-last film, Malle pinpointed the greedy downfall of a middle-aged man who seemed to have it all. He had a family, a job, a happy married to Miranda Richards, and everything in between. When he meets his son's sexy new girlfriend, he becomes obsessed with her and convinced that she is trying to seduce him as well.
Before long, both men are seeing the girlfriend - played by the extraordinary Juliette Binoche in a star-making role. It all comes crashing down after the son discovers his affair. In the end, the man loses everything. Richards was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the film in which she confronts her husband by taking off her top and asking "aren't I enough?" Honestly, those breasts are more than enough for me!
Malle's last film was Vanya on 42nd Street in 1994 before he was unexpectedly diagnosed with lymphoma. He passed away the following year leaving behind his wife (Candice Bergen) and his daughter. He has also left behind an amazing career filled with skintastic moments!
