The Jean-Pierre Melville Collection - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
JEAN-Pierre Melville (1917 – 1974) is one of the most revered French film directors of all time. Born in Paris, his first movies were shot on 16mm with a camera given to him by his father.
Conscripted in to military service just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Melville then escaped Nazi-occupied France and became a member of the French Resistance.
Throughout his career as a film director he constantly drew on this experience, creating underworlds of secrecy and deception.
The reluctant godfather of the French New Wave, Melville’s highly individual style was influenced by the ideas of existentialism and surrealism, but arguably his greatest debt was to the American film noirs of 1930s and ‘40s Hollywood, the traditions of which he wove with inimitable style into his quintessentially French films, seeing him hailed by many as the father of the French gangster movie.
This set contains six of his finest films, including amongst others his early bittersweet masterpiece, Bob Le Flambeur, the soon-to-be-remade Un Cercle Rouge, and his final film, the underrated Un Flic.
Army of Shadows (1969)
Tense, brutal and superbly realised, Army of the Shadows is a gritty drama following members of the French resistance fighting for freedom during the occupation.
Based on Joseph Kessel’s wartime novel, and Melville’s own memories of the Underground, the film introduces us to Phillipe Gerbier (Lino Ventura) a resistance leader who daringly escapes Nazi imprisonment by killing a guard. Vengeance on his betrayer is swift and, in a scene possessing an almost unimaginable level of icy brutality, execution meted out by hand.
Gerbier escapes to London but soon events conspire to return him to occupied France and another daring escape attempt involving fellow Resistance fighters Félix (Paul Crauchet) and Mathilde (Simone Signoret).
Extras: Commentary for selected scenes by Ginette Vincendeau / Jean Pierre Melville: filmmaker (4 mins) / Le Journal de la Resistance – footage of the liberation of Paris (HOH subtitles, 32 mins) / Melville Army of Shadows (27 mins)
Cert: 12
Running Time: 138 mins approx
Le Doulous (1962)
Following his release from prison, Maurice (Serge Reggiani) robs and kills the fence responsible for the death of his wife and steals the jewels he has been hiding, products of a recent heist. He then plans a heist of his own, sharing his plan with Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo), Underworld criminal and supposed police informer.
As the story unfolds Melville keeps us guessing with plot twists and murky motives revealed through his traditional hard-boiled dialogue and picturesque visuals. More than a simple gangster film, Le Doulos intricately weaves elements of classic film noir and emerging New Wave filmmaking to explore just how deeply the qualities of friendship and loyalty run. Adapted from the novel by Pierre Lesou.
Extras: Commentary for selected scenes by Ginette Vincendeau / Trailer/ Interview with Assistant Director Volker Scholondorff (BFI)/ Introduction by Ginette Vincendeau
Cert: 12
Running Time: 104 mins
Leon Morin Pretre (1961)
A poetic, spiritual film, Leon Morin Pretre opens in a small French town during the occupation. Barny (Emmanuelle Riva) is a young, restless, sexually frustrated widow, living with her young daughter, who long ago decided to take the easiest route in life.
An agnostic and communist, she one day encounters a handsome, young priest Leon Morin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and challenges him to defend his faith, but his response both surprises and intrigues her. As Leon attempts to set Barny on the right path a platonic relationship cautiously develops between them, but is threatened by Barny’s burgeoning romantic obsession with this unattainable man of the cloth. A powerful erotic charge fuels the narrative of this adaptation of Beatrix Beck’s novel.
Extras: Commentary for selected scenes by Ginette Vincendeau / Trailer/ Interview with Assistant Director Volker Scholondorff (BFI)/ Introduction by Ginette Vincendeau
Cert: PG
Running Time: 112 mins
Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
Le Cercle Rouge is a powerful, in-depth study of the French Underworld and a uniquely stylish Gallic film noir. Regular Melville collaborator and quintessential anti-hero Alain Delon plays Corey, a cool and aristocratic master-thief, released from prison on the same day that a murderer named Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonte) escapes from the custody of police superintendent Mattei.
The two pair up with Jansen (Yves Montand), an embittered ex-police sharpshooter to plan and spectacularly execute a daring robbery of an upmarket Parisian jewellery store. They face impossible odds but are compelled to carry the heist out, with tragic consequences.
A perfect combination of the Hollywood gangster film and Melville’s trademark existentialism, Le Cercle Rouge is a masterful, pessimistic, and achingly melancholic work soon to be remade by Melville aficionado John Woo.
Extras: Commentary for selected scenes by Ginette Vincendeau / Trailer/ Interview with Assistant Director Bernard Stora (BFI)/ Introduction by Ginette Vincendeau (BFI) / Rui Nogueira on Melville
Cert: PG
Running Time: 134 mins
Un Flic (1972)
Made the year before his death, Jean-Pierre Melville’s final film and his third with Alain Delon after Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge, Un Flic is the director’s most extreme and underrated gangster movie. Parisian police commissioner Coleman (Delon) is not a happy man, but he does what he can to get through each day.
Coleman finds solace in his affair with Cathy (Catherine Deneuve), who also happens to be the girlfriend of Coleman’s friend, Simon (Richard Crenna), the head of a gang of daring criminals. As the commissioner’s pursuit of the gang intensifies, so does the rivalry between the two men. A wonderfully fatalistic study of loss and deception and a distillation of Melville’s interest in the codes of loyalty and honour, Un Flic marks a fitting epitaph to one of the finest careers in contemporary cinema.
Cert: 12
Running Time: 96 mins