Appearances

Title	Role	Year	Approx. Age
Mes Petites Amoureuses	Daniel	1974	15

Martin Loeb is forever associated with one of the most controversial films in the history of cinema: Maladolescenza ((aka Spielen wir Liebe and Puppy Love)-1977) by Pier Giuseppe Murgia. Much has been talked and written about the female stars Eva Ionesco, who managed to forge a good career as an actress in France, with directors like Federico Fellini, Umberto Lenzi, Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento, along with her passion for writing and photography. Lara Wendel left the business to the chagrin of lovers of Italian genre, but much less has been written about the only male protagonist in the film, the young Martin Loeb.

Who was he, what has become of him since Maladolescenza? He will have an eternal place for being one of the children in cinema at its most poignant and explicit era.

Martin Loeb was born in 1959 in New York. He is none other than the younger brother of Caroline Loeb, actress and singer made famous in 1983 with her tube C'est la ouate. Martin is the son of the famous gallery owner Albert Loeb. Caroline was born in Paris, Martin in New York following the opening of an art gallery. The family immediately returned to Paris. From a family of merchants of art, it would have been astonishing if the two siblings were not interested very early in the world of entertainment. Martin is 14 when he entered the cinematographic world by winning the main role of a film by Jean Eustache, Mes Petites Amoureuses (My Little Loves - 1974). It was his cousin, the actress and model photographer Isabelle Weingarten who introduced Martin to the director who also gives a small role to his sister Caroline.

Martin plays Daniel, a child on the brink of adolescence rejected by adults listens to grown-ups and studies them. Mes Petites Amoureuses approaches with sensitivity the difficult subject of sexual awakening, first desires, first emotions, fear, worry, that are a difficult passage for any child. The film owes a lot to the masterful interpretation of the script by Martin. Asked a few years later about this film Martin confessed to tremendous fear that was difficult for him to channel. However, he admitted that Mes Petites Amoureuses remained a wonderful memory in his life.

It is no coincidence that Martin was led to the roles of difficult adolescents in often controversial films. The Loeb family has always been daring and neither his sister Caroline nor Martin shied away from these subjects.

Two years later, Martin briefly appears alongside Catherine Deneuve in Claude Lelouch's film Si c'était ŕ refaire (Second Chance -1976). He plays Marc Gautier, one of Francis Huster's students responsible for the theft of money from a professor.

It is the following year that Martin, at the age of 17, will embody Fabrizio the male character so scandalous in Maladolescenza that the film was banned in many countries upon its initial release. He worked alongside two newcomers Eva Ionesco and Lara Wendel, who went on to long-lasting acting careers. It's another film on the awakening of sexuality, Filmed in Upper Austria, and caused a wave of protest in Germany for its nude scenes between Martin and Eva.

Martin reappears in 1979 in Roberte by Pierre Zucca . The young actor interprets Antoine, the nephew of Pierre Klossowski, an artist who took his wife as a model in order to stage her in very daring living pictures to illustrate his fantasies. By gradually discovering the forbidden universe of his aunt, the adolescent feels more and more attracted to her.

It will be Martin's last role. In six short years and four films marked his complete history in the cinema. Family friend and director Jean Eustache, the actress and casting director Edith Cottrell tried in vain to persuade him to continue his trade as an actor.

His efforts were in vain. Martin's decision was final. Caught up in the vagaries of life, Martin disappeared over time. As brief as his cinematographic journey was, Martin will be known in the space of a few films for his mark on French cinema through roles of intense pain, and sexual awakening.

- Eric Draven