Le deuxième souffle

Jean-Pierre Melville and his long standing infatuation with Hollywood "Film Noir",which he was the most devoted follower of, in entire history of French cinema, produced the whole line of best French crime pictures ever. In this one, he's in absolute top form on this neatly constructed, no nonsense caper film. Building a story of old school criminals with sense of criminal honesty and honor, around 800 million heist, Melville, tells many stories, from human relations, betrayals and greed, to love and friendship that will go all the way.

The dialogs are great. Witty police inspector Comissaire Blot, beautifully portrayed by Paul Meurisse and Lino Ventura's Gustave "Gu" Minda,play the game of cat and mouse with no unnecessary talk, and no unnecessary action. Melville devoted a lot of attention to detail, and this film deservedly looks like a crime-action documentary, with no plot holes or "how the hell this or that could have happened" types of questions for the viewer, which is very important for mature audiences that appreciate classic films. I think that this may be the best film Melville made in the 60's, even better than "Army of Shadows" or the "Samourai",and was the last he made in his own studio that burned up during the production of "Samourai" in 1967, which may explain the possibilities he had, to devote time and attention to details. If you appreciate a good crime picture, be sure not to miss it.

What I find is that a great film of great length, whether slow paced or not, is life a sheep in wolf's clothing. However intimidating a run time may look, the greats go by quicker than many 90 minute efforts. Whether it's Solaris(1972) and Andrei Rubev(1966) in just short o9f 3 hours, or Seven Samurai(1954) and Godfather II(1974) in excess of 200 minutes, there films to me never feel their length and always justify it. While many have commented on "Second Wind" (using the English title for simplicity's sake) running time, rest assured, it too is deceptive.

The film opens abruptly into the finale of an escape sequence from prison, giving no breathing room as you are thrown into the action. One man dies but the other two make it out, as we go to an atmospheric opening credits sequence of the two running through the forest, with little to no music. Only one of the escapees is of concern to us, Gustave Minda (regularly called Gu), put behind bars for a train robbery gone wrong. He comes back to his old stomping grounds, rescuing his sister and loyal friend from a pair of thugs. Their murder further brings heat down on him in a case led by Blot, a wise cracking but crafty inspector. Many plot points are running intersect, including a battle over the cigarette business and the forming of a heist, the latter of which Gu is drawn into in order to have some money when he leaves the country. While there are a lot of characters and going ons to keep track of, as long as one is paying attention, following along is simple, as Melville masterfully brings these plot points together.

This is a dialogue and character heavy movie, making it more similar to "Bob the Gambler" (1955) than "Le Samurai(1967). While maybe not as snappy as Godard, or Tarantino for a more modern example, Melville's films were always strong in dialogue, and this is no exception. This movie is composed of a string of home running scenes. Whether it's humorous, like inspector Blot's sarcastic rant on the unwillingness of a restaurant's employees and customers to comment on the shooting that had occurred, or serious, such as a trio of gangsters confronting a man they believe set them up, there are no wasted scenes or dull moments, whether five minutes or twenty. There's nothing here story wise that is of particularly new ground: a noir style fatalism, a police force as corrupt as the criminals they pursue, political intrigue and betrayals, however it doesn't matter. Originality is welcome but not necessary in anything, and here we see these familiar threads executed with such enthusiasm, backed by strong performances all around, that it hardly matters whether one has seen these things before. If there is one possibly original aspect, it is in it's ending which I won't spoil here. It's a small, but important moment, and much like his follow up "Le Samurai"(1967), widely open to interpretation.

Melville is known for his awesome visuals and mood, and this is no exception. His love of noir is apparent in the perfectly dark lighting, combined with an often minimal soundtrack that aids in creating a mood of dread in many scenes. This is actually a much more subdued effort for Melville in that regard, but it works here as the focus is much more on story and characters.

Not to be missed for fans of crime films.

Melville's 'Le deuxième souffle' as many of his other works, reflects the same particular and distinctive style of Melville. The film proposes more or less all Melville's usual themes (relations and tensions between cops and thugs, violence, loyalty, forbidden love and friendship). Melville managed the film admirably with coherent storytelling, masterful directing, slow but infinitely good rhythm and especially his intriguing characters, portrayed by a fantastic cast. An excellent dramatic crime film that marks Jean-pierre Melville's iconic era.

A great watch.

Jean Pierre Melville was an "einzelganger" in French cinema. He did not belong to the Nouvelle vague (although his career took place during the heydays of this movement), but he certainly wasn't a part of the "cinema du papa" (as the nouvelle vague directors derogatory described their predecessors) either. "Le deuxieme souffle" is not the most well known picture from the oeuvre of Melville, but it is a connecting link between the pure film noir of "Bob le flambeur" (1956) and the more abstract (but still film noir) films such as "Le samourai" (1967) and "Le cercle rouge" (1970).

"Le deuxieme souffle" is not noticeable because of an innovative plot. The criminal who comes out of prison and wants to set some things straight and also wants to make one major robbery before he retires, we all have seen it a dozen times before. It is the way Melville tells this story.

One element you can't miss is the way each milieu has it's own code of honor. Gustave Minda (Lino Ventura) is a criminal who doesn't hesitate for a second when the job requires that he has to kill a couple of people ("Le deuxieme souffle" is a very raw film), but he is very anxious not to be known as a talebearer by his "colleagues". On the other hand commissaire Blot (Paul Meurisse) has to deal with very ruthless people, and in a way he understands them and sees through them. When however another commissair uses violent interrogation techniques, he takes measures to keep his profession clean.

Just like in "Le samourai" the opening scene is silent for a very long time. In this opening scene we see the escape of Gustave Minda and two other inmates. The way that Gustave has to struggle to keep pace with his fellow inmates tells us (without the use of a single word) that he is already an aging criminal.

Just like in "Du rififi chez les hommes" (1955, Jules Dassin) the preparations for the great robbery are shown in great detail. During this preparations Gustave has to hide, after all he is a prisoner on the run. Much of the movie is therefore situated in cramped claustrophobic rooms. To juxtapose all this, the execution of the crime is situated in the most open of landscapes imaginable.

Nowadays, films that last more than two hours or even two and a half hours are no longer a rarity, on the contrary, they have become almost the norm. This was not the case in 1966, when Jean-Pierre Melville directed 'Le Deuxième Souffle', a 'film noir' that assimilates and synthesizes the film experiments of the French New Wave, of which Melville was very close, but at the same time has a classic structure and narrative, starting from José Giovanni's documentary novel which it brings to screens (Giovanni also wrote the film's dialogues). More than five decades after its making, the film has a stylish look (perhaps due to the use, for the last time in Melville's career of black and white film) but also a modernity and a cursivity that make it easy and interesting to watch. I didn't get bored at any point and I never had feeling that the movie (which I saw in the full 150-minute version) is too long.

Jean-Pierre Melville addresses here a theme that he will continue in subsequent films and especially in 'Le Samouraï', which I consider to be his cinematographic masterpiece - the theme of the honor code of the mob. Solidarity among those in the dark side of the law requires mutual protection among criminals, including rivals, in the contacts with the law officers and imposes absolute silence even under the toughest investigations. The informers and those who collaborate with the police are, according to this 'moral' code, the lowest human species, and the fate that awaits them is death. The film begins with the escape of Gustave 'Gu' Minda, the main hero of the film, played by the wonderful Lino Ventura, from the prison where he was serving a life sentence. When the police inspector who follows him uses an illegal recording to compromise him, the recovery of his honor becomes more than an obsession for him, more important than love and even life.

This is one of the solid and generous roles in Lino Ventura's career, a role that suits him wonderfully. A few other excellent actors surround him: Michel Constantin, known from many other gangster films, Paul Meurisse whom I knew from the classic 'Diabolique' made a decade ago as a talkative and shrewd police inspector, and Christine Fabréga, whom I did not know until now, takes upon with aplomb the role of the hero's hopeless girlfriend. The cinematography cleverly applies the lessons learned by Melville during his Nouvelle Vague period, bringing to screen Paris and Marseille with their shadows, bars and nightclubs, with jazz music in the background in the style of the American films adored by the young French directors of the period. The arid and spectacular landscape of the southern roads of France is an excellent setting for spectacular pursuits and heists, and we also have the opportunity to see the old port of Marseille as it looked before the renovations that turned it into a tourist destination. 'Le Deuxième Souffle' is an excellent gangster movie, but also a psychological film, accurate and believable in character building, which deserves to be seen for much more reasons than nostalgia.