Synopsis
A Parisian police chief has an affair, but unbeknownst to him, the boyfriend of the woman he’s having an affair with is a bank robber planning a heist.
1972 Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
A Parisian police chief has an affair, but unbeknownst to him, the boyfriend of the woman he’s having an affair with is a bank robber planning a heist.
A Cop, Dirty Money, Едно ченге, Ein Polizist
As a big Melville fan, I found this somewhat disappointing.
This has the same signature cold style I love in many of his other movies, but the plot isn’t as gripping as his other films. It does have some technical sequences that are extremely impressive, but didn’t give me as much reason to care about its characters.
Part of it (which is partially my problem) is I was mixing up the characters all the time. There’s groups of men in trench coats all the time, and I was confused who was a good guy and who was a bad guy.
Don’t know how they got Catherine Deneuve to show up for a small supporting role but that was a fun surprise!
The eyes. It's all about the eyes. Alain Delon's blue eyes and Catherine Deneuve's green eyes. Eye contact between characters, between friends, between partners, between enemies. Eye contact with Van Gogh. Robbers communicate with their eyes during heists, look, nod, only a few words uttered. The camera would always follow the movement of the eyes, constantly shifting as characters exchange glances, or stare at each other.
Through Simon's (Richard Crenna) eyes we see that he's a confident robber. Calm and skillful. Through Coleman's (Alain Delon) eyes we see that he's a weary detective, sick and tired of it all.
"No, I don't know him." said Simon. The camera rapidly cut between Simon's and Coleman's eyes. The tension rised exponentially. Throw…
Melville's farewell not only to the crime genre and his collaboration with the great Alain Delon, but to cinema itself, was the last proof that shows that Melville was still at the top of his game.
The story is deceptively simple, goes by the book, opens as most films of the genre do, closes like few of them do, has a predictable climax, and is one of the most important examples of neo-noir, including the relentless, determined cop, the beautiful blonde femme fatale and the typical friendship connection between cop and crook.
What are, then, the motivations for watching the film? Mellvile's scope, of course, the jazzy score and the performances of the terrific cast.
Le Cercle Rouge is famous…
question #23:
who said “my, what pretty eyes you have…”?
a) jean-pierre melville
b) sergio leone
c) the big bad wolf
d) every single freaking one of them probably
*
( fabricated reality )
Jean-Pierre Melville was the absolute master of cinematic cool. It's quite sad that this was his final outing, but one can undoubtedly pick up on the pieces that it left for future crime films from both narrative and stylistic points of view. The train sequence is simply a marvel to watch!
Still recovering from THAT movie
Films like Le Samourai showed Melville was what would many will call "an auteur". He has a style of its own, that style will either make it or break it for everyone.
So what's that style, you may be asking? Well, there's an almost 20 mins greatly choreographed heist scene that has almost no dialogue and zero music. The complete opposite from what you will expect from a heist or suspended movie at the moment, this gives a sense of realism.
All performances are as well as quite, but very good. Seeing often bad guy Alain DeLeon playing for the good guys was really nice.
All in all, while it's very quite nature didn't align with my more bombastic and kinetic taste, this is still a nice and stylistic suspense/cop movie.
Melville's final film... i almost want to call it his TO THE WONDER, despite not having seen TO THE WONDER. this isn't exactly the forum for vetting the unfounded bullshit that wanders through my mind during a movie. Melville seems a bit caught up in the inertia of his own craft, or maybe i'm just put off by such scattered messiness from a man best known for fetishizing precision. here he again explores the moral equivalency of a world so cold that i can't imagine a trench coat ever managed to keep someone warm. Catherine Deneuve with a pistol clutched to her ribs helps finds Melville's jazz noir stylings already in the process of being reborn as kitsch, charmingly helped along by silly analog effects (like the helicopter heist, which disguises its model work about as well as the opening scenes of THE LADY VANISHES some 4 decades prior).
This is a proper, though sadly untimely, send-off for the master of crime. It takes his concept of coolness and detachment to the extreme which might result to some less engaging characters but fortunately Un Flic revels in stylish blue hues and Melville's usual clean cut cinematography as well as relaxed, moody score. Delon could never be as cool as in Le Samourai but he comes close by giving another level to this melancholic detachment and indifference that controls the atmosphere and is quoted twice in the movie. Other returning and expected factors include lack of spoken words and fantastic heist scenes which are the cornerstones of his success.
One thing that is missing, however, is the character building and…
Were it not for a couple glaring, uh, budgetary limitations (I hate to be the type of person to complain about production value but it really does represent a grasp for Melville's reach to exceed a couple times, and not in a fun way), this would probably be my favorite Melville film. The movie's central train-based set-piece is a marvel for his signature patiently-constructed suspense (maybe Melville was a little too patient with the special effects people, OK I'll shut up about it now), all the more so for its seemingly taking place in real time.
The cinematography is as silvery and steel-cold as you could possibly wish from a nihilistic crime drama, with some really stunning camerawork (watch the…
You can completely see the influence Melville had on all writers and directors working in the crime genre. Even with something like Un Flic which doesn't always work, there are so many touchstones that could link you to countless other movies. I do wonder if Melville cast his main characters here based on their eyes alone, because they are all striking. The helicopter/train heist has some woeful special effects, but the actual heist is really fun and well done. There is a cold blue colour tint to everything, and in the early going during a rain storm it really does a lot to set the mood and atmosphere. However, when the same tint is used for every indoor scene as well it does start to get a little oppressive.
Not one of Melville's best. This story of a cop on the edge chasing down a gang of armed robbers is strangely cold and unengaging. Visually, it's a cut above, with Melville's trademark cool, crisp style and assured camera work, but the story is lacking. The eponymous cop, Alain Delon's inspector Coleman, doesn't have to do a lot of detective work - everything seems to fall into his lap and bringing the gang to justice proves to be anticlimactic.
Dialogue is minimal. There's a lot of attention to detail lavished on the two main jobs - the bank heist at the start and then the train robbery - but almost too much detail: watching Richard Crenna's character de-robing, washing and…
Please note this is a review of a movie, not a law enforcement officer. Please see my account at Blotterboxd for police reviews
The world as seen through the blue eyes of Alain Delon's frighteningly cold detective. The criminals are introduced as fedora wearing silhouettes in a car, a powerfully mysterious image that sets the quiet, cool tone of everything that follows. My favorite scene is a very long take of a man changing clothes and hiding evidence as part of an elaborate train heist. I know this is the kind of thing that drives some people (hi Matt!) crazy with boredom, but to me it shows such a respect for criminal enterprises as a skilled trade, as labor.
“The only feelings mankind inspires in policemen are indifference and scorn.”
very fun and super stylish! i absolutely could Not! keep track of the characters because they all look like old white guys but i still got the gist of everything going on.
For a movie that quotes itself as an epigraph iys pretty fucking cool. The heist scenes are breathtakingly gripping. The central drama isn’t that complex. Nor are it’s characters, however the movie is so dynamic and efficient in its storytelling and compelling in its sequences that it doesn’t really matter. Just like the obvious models don’t distract from a superb train heist scene
like if steely masculinity made a movie and it was boring. alain delon was hot playing the piano, though, I guess.
Something about transitioning to a second caper 2/3 of the way into the film felt false to me. This is about bank robbers who kind of botch a job and are on the run from the cops, so when that gets more or less buttoned up and they jank a briefcase full of drugs off a train, the trademark Melville silent heist happens I found little to be thrilled by.
The look of this movie is solid though and, despite the model trains making the big centerpiece burglary look like a Thomas the Tank Engine outtake, there's a lot to like. It's just a little unfortunate to be kind of bored by Alain Deleon and Catherine Deneuve while being absolutely confused why Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) was being dubbed into French.
Fairly boiler plate outside of that unbelievable train sequence, but that sequence makes the rest of the film worth watching. So clear that Mann cribs from Melville all the time, but I can’t blame him because I’d do the exact same thing if I made movies. One of my personal favorite visual stylists. Love the whole look of the opening heist. Melville is fantastic at creating and building tension and I can’t get enough of his heist sequences.
Melville goes out with neither a bang nor a whimper. Really the only thing that keeps it from being a run of the mill heist/cop film is the color palette, which gives you an idea of what Playtime would be like if it had been a crime film. The train heist is frankly a bit boring and the model work is laughable.
I've noticed quite a few mediocre reviews for this movie, with the general view being it's lesser Melville. I know I'm only three movies in to Melville's filmography but, man, I absolutely loved this.
I think Melville makes movies which just appeal very deeply to something in me. I can't even explain this film's strong appeal to me. A lot of it is in the aesthetic - as soon as we see that Plymouth cruising down the deserted, rain-swept streets of that Atlantic coastal ville, drenched in that steel blue tint which Melville sustains for the entire movie, I am just in.
That opening scene is a terrific heist sequence, but the centrepiece here is that train heist. I can…
A Nonchalantly Cool Big Heist/Detective Hollywood Blockbuster only that it’s not from Hollywood, it’s wasn’t blockbuster, it’s french and made on a relatively low budget, with JP Melville’s usual dose of high tension and word less action sequences, and it features Alain Delon’s beautiful & angelical face
In the last film directed by the great French auteur Jean-Pierre Melville, he delivers a solid heist film that utilizes all of his filmmaking trademarks to put a final stamp on his legendary career. His minimalist filmmaking, cool style, and slick gangsters are on full display with his meticulous attention to detail. Alain Delon is great as usual as the police commissioner Edouard Coleman. It was refreshing seeing Delon play one of the good guys for once instead of playing a gangster like he had in his previous collaborations with Melville. I’m not as familiar with the other actors playing the bank robbers, but they were all very good alongside Delon during their cat and mouse game. What this film…
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