Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator. The film is often associated by critics with the film noir style.
The score by Miles Davis has been described by jazz critic Phil Johnson as "the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep."
The soundtrack was recorded on December 4 and December 5, 1957.
Synopsis
The central characters, a pair of lovers, plan the perfect crime - the murder of the woman's husband, Simon Carala. The murderer, Julien Tavernier, abseils up the office block to kill the husband in his office without being seen, but on going to his car, realizes that he has left the rope dangling outside the building. Leaving his expensive car unlocked and with the keys in the ignition, he returns to remove the evidence, but in doing so becomes trapped in the lift as the building closes down for the weekend. In the meantime, the car is stolen by a young couple, Louis and Veronique. They stay overnight with a German couple at a motel. When Louis attempts to steal their luxury car, he is caught out and shoots them with Julien's handgun that he found in the car. While the police still consider Carala's death a suicide, Julien is charged with the killing of the Germans, and his lift-related alibi is not believed. Much of the suspense comes from Julien's attempt to escape from the lift. Although he succeeds, the murder plot is eventually discovered through photographs taken by the young couple with the camera they find in his car.
