Louis Malle was a descendent of a rich industrial family and studied Political
Science at Sorbonne. After some time he transferred to the Film Institute. He
was an assistant and sub-marine cameraman to Jacques Cousteau in the
Oscar-winning documentary Silent World; he also assisted Robert Bresson
on the movie Un condamné ŕ mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle oů il veut
(1956). His works belong to the period of French New Wave. His movies often
arouse controversy (from the movie Lust he had to cut out some lovemaking
scenes because of the American distribution); his films had treated various
issues that contributed in a way to their broad viewing audience. He often
filmed in The United States and, thanks to him, Brooke Shields entered the world
of filmmaking and Susan Sarandon had one of her first big roles in Atlantic
City.