Jean-Pierre Melville

 Jean-Pierre Melville

screening list

Le cercle rouge

Léon Morin, prêtre

Un flic

Bob le flambeur

Le doulos

Le cercle rouge

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville

Stars: Alain Delon/Bourvil/Gian Maria Volontè/Yves Montand/Paul Crauchet

The film is a masterpiece, known as of “the pure perfection and classic”. The storyline is set around a jewelry heist schemed by a thief who just did his jail time, an inmate who escaped from prison and a police officer who got fired. The most classic scene is the 30-minute-long robbery where images worked seamlessly with the music, but words were redundant. Melville’s personal style was fully fledged. “When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths, on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle.” He said. 

Léon Morin, prêtre

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville

Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo/Emmanuelle Riva/ Irène Tunc/ Nicole Mirel

Léon Morin, Prêtre is the biggest box office hit of Melville’s movies. Adapted from Prix Goncourt-winning novel, the film is about the philosophic reflection at the backdrop of World War II. Unlike his previous minimalist movies, Léon Morin, Prêtre appears to be full of dialogues. However, every line is substantial in the seemingly large amount of dialogues, which is another to be minimalist.  

Un flic

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville

Stars: Alain Delon/Richard Crenna/Catherine Deneuve/ Riccardo Cucciolla

Un Flic was Melville’s the last film, which is also starred by Alain Delon. This time, he is a good man: Commissaire Edouard Coleman, which is different from the previous ones. His good friend is the very principal of a bank robbery who he is to be after. At the same time, both of them love the same woman, Cathy. Once A Thief, a well-known movie to Chinese audience, was a tribute to Un Flic, according to the movie director of Once A Thief, John Woo Yu-Sen. 

Bob le flambeur

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Auguste Le Breton/Jean-Pierre Melville

Stars: Roger Duchesne/Isabelle Corey/ Daniel Cauchy/ Jean-Pierre Melville

Bob le Flambeur was filmed in 1956. It wasn\'t until 1955 when Melville started making his first gangster movie Fever Heat. Bob le Flambeur had already shown Melville’s personal artistic style. With Jazz music goes, the whole film is calm, absurd and fast-paced with a hue of black humor. The story is very simple: Bob, a gambler, and his friends planned to rob a casino. After having done all the preparations, Bob missed the planned time due to gambling, and then caught by the police because his gang friends told on him, which is the end of the story. Interestingly, the female character in this film is like a red thread in the darkness, quitely intertwining with the dark storyline and leading everything to a dead end.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer: Auguste Le Breton/Jean-Pierre Melville

Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo/Serge Reggiani/Jean Desailly/René Lefèvre

Adapted from the novel Le Doulos published in 1946, the film tells a story about Maurice, a thief. One day, his friend Silien came over with some essential tools for the theft he was planning. Together with Silien came the police as well. The plot keeps turning and twisting until the very end when the mystery was finally unraveled. 

This is an underestimated film, hardly mentioned by the public. When Léon Morin, Prêtre became such a hit in 1961, Melville had more money to make films that really spoke for him. This was when Le Doulos came into being. In this movie, Melville perfectly blended American and French filmmaking styles and made it into his own dark style.