Louis Malle is on record as finding this the first of his early films with which he was fully satisfied. I choose not to argue with him although I didn't find too much wrong with the others. What is indisputable here is that director and leading actor (Maurice Ronet) were in complete accord with both being entitled to pat themselves on the back. Though based on a celebrated novel Malle has embellished this with his own touches and succeeded against all the odds in making Paris empty and vacuous - as seen, of course, through the jaded eyes of the protagonist - which is quite a trick if anybody asks you. It's not so much Paris as the people in it, of course, people who are all good friends of the protagonist and none of whom can persuade him that life really is worth living. It's a fine ensemble piece dominated by a central role and if technically - in terms of when it was made - a product of the New Wave then certainly one of the more accomplished and professional of the genre. Should really be on everyone's list.

Technically speaking, this is a well made film. The acting, writing and direction are all very good and I have no serious complaints in this regard. However, as the film is a very cold account of a severely depressed man who is contemplating suicide, it is thoroughly unpleasant and should NEVER be seen by anyone who is depressed or has a history of suicide attempts--it might just push them over the edge. So this leads me to wonder WHO the audience is for this film?! The average person will probably find the film too unpleasant and awful to stick with it and depressed people will give up hope if they watch it. About the only people who will enjoy or at least appreciate this film are art film patrons--who often revel at the prospect of watching a film even more depressing and hopeless than the most depressing film made by Ingmar Bergman. I love many so-called "art films", but frankly I disliked this film and never hope to see it again. Life is just too short to watch films like this!! And, unless you are very strange, shouldn't the purpose of films be to be either entertained or to learn and grow as a result of seeing it? This film fails on both counts.

By the way, in many ways this film is quite reminiscent of the recent film LEAVING LAS VEGAS where a character deliberately drinks himself to death over a very short period of time. Following the sale of his book, the writer (John O'Brien) killed himself. So, watch and beware.

"Le feu follet" or "The Fire Within" or "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" is a French French-language film from 1963, so this movie that runs for almost 110 minutes will have its 60th anniversary soon. This age does not only mean that here we have a black-and-white film, but also that you won't find too many people who worked on this project either in front of the camera or as part of the crew that are still alive today. Lead actor Maurice Ronet actually died at a relatively young age. But first things first: The director here was Louis Malle, who is considered by many one of the finest filmmaker France ever had and this film is based on the novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, who died less than 20 years before this film was made. I wonder what he would have thought about the adaptation. Oh well, we will never know. This movie here was apparently the first of many (ell, of several seems more accurate) that features this writer's material. It is a very sobering, very bleak movie, but seeing how Volker Schlöndorff was part of the crew here I cannot say I am surprised. His movies are never fun, actually never even include any slightly fun moments like Wenders', Herzog's and Fassbinder's did. Fittingly for this one here, there is a story about a man suffering from depression, a pretty attractive man who gets along well with the ladies and also has the money to live exactly the life he wants to life, but the dark shadows inside him won't go away. Still I must say that I was never really entertained by this movie, although this is maybe the wrong word, let's say on the edge of my seat. It definitely isn't a failure, but it is just slowly dripping forward and nothing of interest really happens. Basically, after an introduction that shows us the main character and his most recent love interest, we see him at a shrink and the shrink tries to make it clear to the protagonist that life is beautiful and worth living and be it only by the words he says before he leaves the room.

The rest of the film until the pretty shocking, even if not entirely unexpected, ending is basically the protagonist strolling around, meeting people who once were his friends, maybe still are. It's never really clear. But their attempts to get him into a better spirit and enjoy their time together are not really successful. If there is distraction, then it is really only temporary. I must say I also did not like this too much. They threw in too many characters here without properly elaborating on them. I mean we do not even really know who the main character is, what he does etc., but for the supporting cast members, things look even more disappointing. I don't feel this film was narrated too well. So I also cannot agree ith the awards recognition it received. I usually like old French black-and-white movies, but this one here did very little for me. Maybe the reason is partially how much of a downer it was, but actually I also like depressing films sometimes or films that have the exact opposite of a happy ending, but yeah I guess the ending here was memorable enough for some that they gave this film a much higher rating than they should have and this explains why the 8 here is left of the comma. I could not agree less honestly. I already said the lead actor died too early, but his death was not a suicide the way it is for the protagonist here. I would also like to say again that there is almost no comedy in here, at best 2 or 3 moments of situational comedy, but it is just desperate grasping for straws honestly, so that the film does not feel 100% depressing. One example that some people in the crowd liked was the guy who admits he was still in jail last week. Oh well, if they find that funny.. Maybe it was more about his face expression or body language or because it was the closest this film is going to take you near joie de vivre. I don't want to go more into detail now. I got the chance to see it on the occasion of a film retrospective on old French movies and I think this one had the highest rating from them all, so I was curious and decided to give it a chance. Not the greatest decision though. The outcome here is not a success and honestly, the protagonist is also never likable enough, so that you wonder what is going to happen to him next or that you are really heartbroken at the end. At least for me, it could hardly have been any further away from making an emotional impact to be honest. A bit of a shame. I must say I have never read the novel this is based on and (luckily) I also never suffered from depression (at least not diagnosed) or suicidal thoughts, so maybe people with a more personal connection to the protagonist (because they know his pain) see the film in a more positive light. Quality-wise I mean. Story-wise it isn't even possible. Anyway, for me it is a thumbs-down overall and I suggest you watch something else instead. Not recommended. The good soundtrack alone could not save the movie in the light of all the mediocrity elsewhere, also in terms of how angst is depicted in here, which many others admittedly found a lot more interesting than I did.