Regarded as both revolutionary and scandalous (are the two ever far apart?) when it was released in the late 1950s in both Europe and the United States, Louis Malle’s sophomore feature, a dreamlike evocation of marital discord and romantic passion, has not aged terribly well in the ensuing six decades, and it’s not because its tastefully wrought sexuality seems so tame by contemporary standards. In fact, the notorious love scene, which was so naked in its display of physical sensuality that the film’s banning in the U.S. resulted in a legendary Supreme Court decision, is the one sequence that has maintained the most vitality. Unfortunately, it is bookended by rather dull melodrama and blunt, satirical jabs at the corruption of the French bourgeoisie. (DVD)