French director Louis Malle (1932-1995) was both a part of and separate from French cinema's new wave. By showing audiences the humanity beneath his characters' moral failings, Malle became one of the most celebrated directors of postwar cinema. His films, in French and English, won acclaim and sparked controversy in his native France and America.

Malle was one of eight children born to a wealthy family in northern France. His mother's family owned a giant sugar concern, and his farther, a former naval officer, ran the family's sugar factory. Wealth provided Malle with private tutors at the family's chateau in Thumeries, France. He spent his summers in Ireland and became fluent in English. Malle was eight when World War II broke out and his family went to Paris. Rebelling against his religious education and bourgeois upbringing, Malle sought refuge in the cinema.

Career Began Undersea

At the end...