Patrick Modiano gives a press conference in Paris, on Oct. 9, 2014, following the announcement earlier in the day of his Nobel Literature Prize. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)

Louis Malle’s Lacombe Lucien was recently shown at the Institut français in London.  The screenplay was co-written by 2014 Nobel Prize-recipient Patrick Modiano.

Simenon is known to have inspired Modiano.  In Lacombe Lucien Modiano revisits the past but in a very different manner than Proust’s reminiscing: he investigates it just like Simenon in his crime novels. . In fact, Modiano’s 2005 autobiography’s title A pedigree, comes from Simenon’s Pedigree.

In 1944, young Lucien Lacombe returns to his parent’s house in rural south-western France and asks his former teacher to join the Résistance. Turned down because of his age, he ends up joining the French Gestapo. He enjoys his new position and power until he falls in love with France Horn, a Jewish girl, and starts to question his allegiance to the Nazis. Written by Louis Malle and Patrick Modiano, Lacombe Lucien won the BAFTA Best Picture Award in 1975.

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