Lacombe, Lucien
Year: 1974
Runtime: 138 mins
Language: French
Director: Louis Malle
In occupied rural France during World War II, the film follows Lucien Lacombe, a restless teenager yearning to join the Resistance. Rejected for his youth, he allies with the German occupiers, becoming an informant for the French Gestapo. He revels in his new power, but his world unravels when he falls for France Horn, a young Jewish woman.
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Explore Movie Threads
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Movies about moral collapse in wartime like Lacombe, Lucien
Ordinary people making monstrous choices when power is up for grabs.If you appreciated the exploration of collaboration and moral decay in Lacombe, Lucien, you'll find similar themes in these movies. These films delve into the complex choices ordinary people face during conflict, often revealing the dark side of human nature when survival and power are at stake.
Generation War
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1990
Forest of the Hanged
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Warsaw 44
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Lacombe, Lucien
1974
The Night of the Generals
1967
War Machine
2017
Devils on the Doorstep
2002
Uprising
2001
Death and Glory in Changde
2010
Redacted
2007
Sand Castle
2017
Boys of Abu Ghraib
2014
The Tin Drum
1980
The War Boys
2009
Narrative Summary
The narrative typically follows an unremarkable individual who, feeling powerless, is presented with an opportunity to gain influence by siding with an oppressive force. The story charts their descent into corruption, as they betray their community and lose their innocence, leading to an inevitable, tragic conclusion.
Why These Movies?
These films are grouped together because they share a focus on the psychological corrosion of characters in extreme situations. They create a grim, oppressive mood by examining how systems of power reveal the darkest aspects of human nature, making the audience complicit in uncomfortable moral questions.
Bleak coming-of-age stories like Lacombe, Lucien
A young person's painful awakening to the brutality of the adult world.For viewers who were captivated by Lucien's brutal loss of innocence in Lacombe, Lucien, this collection features similar grim coming-of-age narratives. These films follow young protagonists whose formative experiences are defined by trauma, moral quandaries, and the oppressive realities of a broken world.
Narrative Summary
A young, often restless protagonist seeks belonging or purpose but finds it within a destructive system. Their initiation is not a positive rite of passage but a descent, where they are shaped by the cruelty around them. The journey is linear and straightforward, emphasizing the inevitability of their tragic awakening.
Why These Movies?
These movies share a specific, somber tone for the coming-of-age arc. The similarity lies in the combination of a young protagonist, a steady pacing that builds a sense of doom, a dark tone, and a heavy emotional weight that results from the irreversible destruction of innocence.
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Lacombe, Lucien Summary
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Lacombe, Lucien Timeline
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