1962 Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Enigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just released from prison and is already involved in what should be a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisting, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust?
The Finger Man, Дулосът, 밀고자
Some belabored plot mechanics aside, this is probably a good dark horse contender for Melville's best movie. The third-act twist isn't really a twist at all, but simply a way for the characters' tragedies to stand out in greater relief.
Le Doulos mixes mixes noir influences with New Wave stylings for an intoxicating tale of dishonour and duplicity in the French underworld. A taut opening scene leads to a heist gone wrong, with Jean-Paul Belmondo's mysterious interloper seemingly at the centre of it all. Jean-Pierre Melville really brings this story to life with some beautifully orchestrated scenes; set off against some brilliantly slick camera work and use of shadow. There are several scenes in cars that have a real surreal edge to them. The complex plot is well told. It ebbs and flows with a real pulsating tension always just beneath the surface. The narrative features numerous double crosses and plot twists in the classic crime thriller style, with always…
"You have to choose… to die, or to lie?"
You either die an [honest] villain or live long enough to see yourself become the [dishonest] hero.
Exceptionally exciting and thoroughly thrilling gangster mystery at its best in the way it navigates having two protagonists without weighing one of them more heavily than the other, both emotionally and narratively (so crucial in a story about betrayal—we never feel we know who "le doulos" is until the end). Perhaps Melville's central text on brotherhood. At its worst in the way it keeps the audience in the dark as long as possible about the machinations of the plot, but the characters are so strong that it never feels contrived. I can't believe this is only my fourth favorite Melville at the moment; that man knew how to direct some great movies.
This film has every ingredient of a razor-sharp noir – a convoluted plot, shifty characters, and postwar dubiety all fusing to produce a world built almost entirely out of backstabbing and betrayal.
There’s a bottomless richness to Nicolas Hayer’s cinematography, his blacks grainy and inky, the light delicately bouncing off the dark and the fog elegantly streaking across the screen.
One other interesting point about the flim: Les doulos is Tarantino’s favorite storyline and Scorsese’s favorite gangster film. Quite an impressive influence, eh?
I’m fairly well-versed in following noir down its various convoluted rabbit-holes (save for The Big Sleep, which never makes any sense even with the help of Google), but admittedly, I lost my way more than once on this one, and whether that’s down to me or Melville’s trigger-finger style — I don’t know. Either way, I’m not about to blame this gem for being smarter than me, which it most definitely is. Compared to Melville’s more celebrated later works Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge, Le Doulos is a typically energised mid-career entry, with none of the trademark stasis that comprises the aforementioned works. This blast of visual bravura, complete with jazzy riffs and majestic long-takes, is not only…
Another classic noir masterpiece from Melville.
Endingnya khas Melville banget, dan twist-nya lumayan mantap lah.
"Who were you calling?"
"The cemetery, to book you a place in case you need it."
Women Film Editors #103: Monique Bonnot
I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been noted by many better writers infinite times over, but sometimes I need a reminder: it's staggering to reflect on the range that Jean-Paul Belmondo possessed as an actor. He could easily embody absolute sweethearts so charming in their colorful buffoonery, more subtle and nuanced roles in serious-minded period pieces, blasé hoodlums... and yet in Melville's Le Doulos, JPB is a real ice-cold bastard, a slick operator with no qualms about killing anyone who stands in the way of a multi-million loot from a jewel robbery. French gangster flicks are often…
Cinematic Time Capsule
1962 Marathon - Film #83
”If things go as planned you won’t regret it”
But of course in a film like this, things rarely go as planned, and sometimes you even end up buying a wreath of your very own.
It’s another bit of super frosty French noir from Mr. Melville and to paraphrase my man, Mamet: Jean-Paul Belmondo is so cool, that when he goes to bed, the sheep count him.
”Who’d you call just now?”
“The cemetery… To book you a spot in case you misbehave”
"If you really knew me... you wouldn't be scared to be with me."
Le Doulos is the film that Martin Scorsese called his favorite gangster film, and that also provided major influence on The Irishman.
Although Jean-Pierre Melville has become significantly more well-known for his late-60's works, including Le Samouraï, Le Cercle Rouge and Army of Shadows, Le Doulos remains an integral part of his filmography, a tense and riveting gangster drama set in the Parisian underworld. Betrayal and greed lurk around every corner; you don't know who to trust in this ruthless, cold-blooded world. Where every partner-in-crime can turn to traitor, every friend can turn to enemy.
I do think that Melville could have taken away some of the…
"You don't point guns at friends."
On the fair-weather nature of relationships between criminals and how, to those you least expect to feel as such, certain stigma is fallacy. Jail isn't good for your health, and neither is death: Maurice leans on Silien when he needs to bounce back, but heels are heels just like the sky is blue according the nature of the business, and mistrust is considered integral to survival regardless of the water one's perception holds. In seeking to upend the core essence of a well-worn trope that benchmarks cop-and-crook conventionality, it becomes evident that it's hard to disentangle what and whom you value, love, etc. from suspicion on polar opposite sides of a most familiar narrative…
