premise: Louis Malle worked in the French film industry.
hypothesis: Irma Vep is a 1996 film directed by the French director Olivier Assayas , starring Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung ( playing herself ) in a story about the disasters that result as a middle-aged French film director ( played by Jean-Pierre Léaud ) attempts to remake Louis Feuillade 's classic silent film serial Les vampires . Louis Marie Malle ( [ mal ] ; 30 October 1932 -- 23 November 1995 ) was a French film director , screenwriter , and producer . His film Le Monde du silence won the Palme d'Or in 1956 and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957 , although he was not credited at the ceremony with the award instead being presented to the film 's co-director Jacques Cousteau . Malle worked in both French cinema and Hollywood , and he produced both French and English language films . His most famous films include the crime film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud ( 1958 ) , the World War II drama Lacombe , Lucien ( 1974 ) , the romantic crime film Atlantic City ( 1980 ) , the comedy-drama My Dinner with Andre ( 1981 ) , and the autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants ( 1987 ) .