by Allan Fish
(France 1967 105m) DVD1
Aka. The Godson; The Samurai
Beware of white gloves
p Raymond Borderie, Eugène Lecipier d/w Jean-Pierre Melville ph Henri Decaë, Jean Charvein ed Monique Bonnot, Yo Maurette m François de Roubaix art Georges Casati, François de Lamothe
Alain Delon (Jef Costello), François Perier (Inspector), Nathalie Delon (Jan Lagrange), Caty Rosier (Valerie), Jacques Leroy (gunman), Michel Boisrand (Wiener), Jean-Pierre Posier (Olivier Rey), Catherine Jourdan (hat-check girl), Robert Favart (barman),
We live in an age where coolness is measured by quips delivered and bodies despatched. Thrills are all cheap, explosive and o.t.t. We have forgotten what it is to savour cinematic understatement. All of which is somewhat ironic when you consider this, Melville’s seminal crime film. It’s a film of massive influence to so many film-makers, from Jim Jarmusch to Luc Besson and to John Woo – who rates it his favourite movie and whose protagonist in The Killer was named Jeff in homage – and still seems to personify cine-cool. And yet it is not only the hip film-makers of today who worship him, but the critics, too; the same critics who decry Besson and Woo for the modern trend of style over substance. Yet isn’t that exactly what fascinated Melville in his crime films? Yes, but something else, too. Melville’s characters remind one in some ways of those of Robert Bresson, in that they are nearly all loners or outsiders in society – the quasi-incestuous siblings in Les Enfants Terribles, the eponymous Bob le Flambeur, the Resistance leaders in The Army in the Shadows. The huge difference is that Melville’s protagonists are generally loners by choice, whereas Bresson’s are rejected by society.
Jef Costello is a young Parisian hitman hired to kill a night-club owner who he has never seen. The hit is a successful one, but he is spotted leaving the scene of the crime by a black cabaret pianist from the club. Later that day he is arrested and forms part of an identity line-up. For some unknown reason, the pianist doesn’t positively identify him and he is let free. Helped by a close friend/old flame, Jef seems to have a cast-iron alibi, but the inspector knows he has his man and sets out to prove it. While trying to evade the police, who waste no time in bugging his apartment, Jef meets the contact who is to pay him the rest of his money, only for the contact to try to kill him.
The most indelible image of Melville’s classic is Alain Delon. Delon wasn’t the greatest actor in the world, but he was capable of surprising subtlety when required and the emotionless Jef is a role he fits into as smugly as those fatal white gloves on his hands. His abode, which gives new meaning to minimalism, is a mirror image of the man himself, his only luxuries a large supply of mineral water and a few packets of Gitanes. Just to think of him in his surgically attached fedora and his trench-coat not only recalls another iconic Jeff played by Bob Mitchum in Out of the Past, but looks forward to the protagonist of Bertolucci’s masterpiece The Conformist. It’s a film that relies a great deal on Delon and he’s quite superb, probably as good as he has ever been. Giving excellent support, even Jef must doff his fedora to Perier as the crafty cop who tries to snare him in a cage as potent as that of Jef’s pet bird, while Delon’s wife Nathalie, in her debut, is a sight for sore eyes and a personification of loyalty. That they look so good is testament not only to Melville’s direction, but to the camera of Henri Decaë. Melville’s favourite cameraman, who also shot Les Enfants Terribles and Bob le Flambeur, is in his element allowing his eye to savour the few shafts of light that permeate this worship of the greyer areas of both Paris and the human condition. And while whole paragraphs and analytical post mortems have been carried out on the almost mythological figure of the pianist – David Thomson has compared her to Maria Casarès’ death in Orphée, and the presence of Perier would certainly endorse this – the philosophy is best summed up by the opening caption from the Bushido code, “there is no greater solitude than that of the samurai.” Indeed, and Melville understood the universality of that better than anyone.
Apparently Melville made up that Bushido code, which is both kind of disappointing and kind of awesome. Great movie.
This is an outstanding review for a seminal film — both in film, and in having a hand in molding me into a serious film-goer. I remember when I was 13 and I loved everything Woo had made. I read an article where he stated that this was his favorite film and his inspiration for Jeff from The Killer…so, being such an avid fan I went and sought out Melville’s film.
Being only 13 I found Le Samourai to be a tad slow, but there was something about it that kind of hypnotized me, and in my reverie I realized I was maturing as a lover of film. Melville’s film was the catalyst for me checking out a slew of foreign films from the likes of Fellini to Bergman to Bresson to Truffaut — I was all-in. Now, obviously a lot of those films’ themes were over this 13 year-olds head, but the visuals, well I drank those in and studied them vigorously.
It was at that point I realized there was this whole other film culture out there, and even though I still loved action films (of course I did I was 13) and especially the films of Woo, I realized that there was so much more out there to look for.
Anyway, sorry for the nostalgia trip, but I just wanted to say that your review touched on so many things I loved about this movie — all of the nuances and buried emotions that showed this 13 year-old there could be more to action films than things blowing up real good and people shooting each other at hyperkinetic speeds.
Kevin: In behalf of Allan, thanks so very much for that! I also love LE SAMOURAI, and it’s nearly Melville’s greatest film, although I still edge LE CIRCLE ROUGE ahead. But the fact that this film was a catylyst in ushering in for you a whole new world of foreign language cinema (Bergman, Bresson, Fellini, et al) speaks for itself. (and at 13 year old! Amazing, but with you I am hardly surprised!) Your ‘nostalgia trip’ is much appreciated here as it enriches the experience of seeing this French classic. I am assuming Kevin that this is your favorite Melville then, right?
Movie Man: You deserve to own shares of this site after the week you’ve had here. Now get over to The Dancing Image and get up some new post so I can reciprocate ASAP!!! LOL! Again, I share your hyperbole for LE SAMOURAI.
And Kevin thanks again! I’ll be over to see you very soon at Hugo Stiglitz.
Sam you are correct, this is my favorite Melville film — though, not his best. Sadly I’ve seen little else of Melville. I would have to go with Army of Shadows being the best of the bunch I’ve seen (which sadly is reduced to three of his films).
I look forward to you stopping by. I’m getting ready to post some reviews from the films I saw at the local film festival.
Cool beans Kevin on the local festival report!
You must see Melville’s LE CIRCLE ROUGE, methinks, but certainly you are right in praising ARMY OF SHADOWS.
My apologies for the extended absence, Sam, Allan, Tony, etc., but as a low-metabolism person sometimes I have to work to get the energy up, and sometimes I don’t. I discovered by chance that today, Allan, you’d written about Le Samourai, and I had to chime in. This particular film of Melville’s holds a special place in my heart, insofar as of all the prints I’ve made in the last ten years this is far and away my most popular. Maybe it’s the title, maybe it’s the image, maybe it’s Delon, but there isn’t a day that goes by without this print getting numerous hits on my site. There is a muted tone to both the color and ambience of this film that makes it hypnotic to watch. The ensemble casts of both Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge make those two films more accepted and accessible for many, but the pared-down focus on Delon as Costello makes this film in a sense more intimate, perhaps more personal for Melville as a filmmaker, and for us as viewers. While I agree that Delon is not the greatest of actors, in this film he’s as close to iconic as it gets.
Hello Guy!!!
I was just thinking about you earlier today, and here you are. You were sorely missed, but I fully understand what you are saying there, and there will be times when you are more motivated and others when you are not. We are always very appreciative to have you here, and have been enriched by you so many times in the past. You contributions for the Powell and Pressburger films were incomparable.
I can’t say I’m surprised that the print you display for LE SAMOURAI is “over the last ten years gthe one that is far and away the most popular” due to in large measure as you say “the muted tone to both the color and ambiance that makes it hypnotic.” Guy, I have no doubt that LE SAMOURAI is Melville’s most popular film (almost like Godard’s A BOUT DE SOUFFLE) and Delon is truly fantastic here, even if he’s no Belmondo.
I personally favor LE CIRCLE ROUGE, but the truth is that this film, LE CIRCLE, ARMY and BOB LE FAMBEUR are all masterworks.
Again, thanks for visiting, you are always deeply appreciated. I’ll have to get inspired now and look at your print!
Ginette Vincendeau, who teaches film studies at King’s College London and is probably the foremost Melville scholar on the planet, requested the use of my Le Samourai print for the French edition of her book “Les stars et le star-systeme en France” (“Stars And Stardom In French Cinema”), published by L’Harmattan in January of this year. A small feather in my cap, but in time I hope for bigger and better things. Vincendeau has contributed audio commentaries for the Criterion editions of a few Melville’s films, and written the book “Jean-Pierre Melville: An American In Paris” (BFI). Now if she would only get around to sending me the autographed copy of “Les stars…” she promised me four, five months ago.
Indeed Guy!
Ms. Vincendeau also contributed to some of the Region 2 Masters of Cinema releases, including Melville’s LA SILENCE DE LA MER, and yes I agree with what you say there that she’s considered ‘the foremost authority of Melville on th eplanet.’
That is way more than a SMALL feather my friend! Way more! My congratulations to you for that fantastic honor!!!
Yes, that autographed copy of that book is a must, and I hope you get it very soon!
I heard her commentary for LE CIRCLE.
Sam:
LE CIRCLE ROUGE is now at the top of my Netflix queue. I look forward to watching it.
I am thrilled to hear this news Kevin, and can’t wait to hear your reaction!!
Allan and Sam, thanks for turning me on to Melville and nudging my long-standing intentions to catch up on his work. I’ve recently been on a mini-Melville binge. As for “Le Samourai,” I found much to like about it. It’s direct, simple, and lacking in unnecessary embellishment. It also doesn’t have the plot convolutions that sometimes made “Le Doulos” and “Le Deuxieme Souffle” a bit of a chore to follow. But I also found “Le Samourai” a little too detached, austere, and cold for my unreserved enthusiasm. It reminded me a bit of reading Camus’s “The Stranger.” I understood what he was getting at and found it admirably expressed without getting completely drawn in. It’s likely that one of Melville’s films will end up on my best of the 60s list, but it wouldn’t be this one; it would be “Army of Shadows” (which I presume Allan will be covering in the future).
Sorry, Finchy, The Army in the Shadows was in the nearly list of 51-100.
My apologies, Allan. I didn’t catch this on the 51-100 list, probably because I hadn’t yet watched it.
R.D. Have you watched LE CIRCLE ROUGE yet by any chance?
Le Samourai and Le Doulos are my two Melville faves. Contrast the jazzy opening and the long tracking shot of Le Doulos’ opening credits with the stark view of Jef’s apartment and tweeting bird that opens Samourai, and you get two different sides of Melville’s genius for the crime genre.