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Ascenseur pour l'échafaud

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Elevator to the Gallows
Ascenseur echafaud.jpg
Original theatrical poster
Directed by Louis Malle
Produced by Jean Thuillier
Written by Noël Calef
Louis Malle
Roger Nimier
Starring Jeanne Moreau
Maurice Ronet
Georges Poujouly
Yori Bertin
Jean Wall
Iván Petrovich
Félix Marten
Lino Ventura
Music by Miles Davis
Cinematography Henri Decaë
Edited by Léonide Azar
Distributed by Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France
Release date
  • 29 January 1958 (1958-01-29)
Running time
88 minutes
Country France
Language French


Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French crime film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the United States, where it was also released as Frantic, and as Lift to the Scaffold in the United Kingdom. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator. The scenario was adapted from a 1956 novel of the same name by Noël Calef.

Associated by some critics with the film noir style, and introducing new narrative and editing techniques, the film is considered an important work in establishing the Nouvelle Vague and the New Modern Cinema. Its score by Miles Davis, and the relationship the film establishes between music, image and emotion, were also considered ground-breaking.

Florence Carala and Julien Tavernier are lovers who plan to kill Florence's husband, Simon Carala, a wealthy industrialist who is also Julien's boss. Julien is an ex-Foreign Legion parachutist officer and a veteran of the Indochina and Algeria wars. After working late on a Saturday, with a rope he climbs up one storey on the outside of the office building, shoots Carala in his office without being seen, arranges the room to make it look like a suicide, and then makes his way out to the street. As he gets into his Chevrolet convertible outside, he glances up and sees his rope still hanging from the building. Leaving the engine running, he rushes back and jumps into the elevator. As it ascends, the caretaker switches off the power and locks up the building for the weekend. Julien is trapped between floors.

Moments later, Julien's car is stolen by a young couple, small-time crook Louis and flower shop assistant Véronique. Florence, who is waiting for Julien at a café nearby, sees the car go past with Véronique leaning out of the window. She assumes that Julien has run off with her and wanders the Paris streets despondently all night asking for him in the bars and clubs where he is known. While joy-riding, Louis puts on Julien's coat and gloves. Checking into a country motel, the two register under the name "Mr. and Mrs. Julien Tavernier" to avoid problems for Louis, who is wanted for petty crimes. At the motel, they make the acquaintance of Horst Bencker and his wife Frieda, a jovial German couple on holiday with whom they had raced en route to the motel. After Frieda takes pictures of Louis and her husband with Julien's camera, Véronique takes the film to a photo lab beside the motel for developing.


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Wikipedia

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