Le doulos

More often than not, French gangster films that owe so much to early American gangster films come off as cakes with more icing than cake. This is not the case with Jean-Pierre Melville, whose Bob le Flambeur is a powerful tale of a compulsive gambler who attempts to right his own life and the lives of those he cares for. In Le Doulos, the story focuses on a gangster, Maurice, just released from prison who immediately gets back on the other side of the law and begins to get involved in the ever-constant struggle between French police and organized crime.

This film obviously owes a great deal to early American gangster films, as so much of Melville does, but what makes it slightly different is the complexity of character and plot Melville injects into the story. There are numerous layers of action going on here; each character is as duplicitous as possible so motivations are always in question and the audience never really can tell who exactly is on which side until the final conclusion. Yet, it is never too confusing and never dull to watch as Melville invites us to explore closer the beautiful fluid camera work and the stunning and stark cinematography.

The acting is also quite effective, especially Serge Reggiani as the world-worn Maurice whose face says more than anything else, and French cinema legend Jean-Paul Belmondo as the too cool for his own good Silien. All in all, a very entertaining and well-made caper thriller that compared to today's shoot 'em ups consists of more than enough cake with the right amount of icing as well.

Made at pretty much the halfway point between Melville's Bob le Flambeur (1955) and Le Samourai (1967), Le Doulos contains elements of both. Belmondo plays Silien, a man thought by some to be a police informer. ("Doulos" means informer or Finger Man, which is the title in English.) Reggiani plays Maurice, who has just gotten out of prison and is getting involved with another robbery attempt. His friend Silien offers to help, and the film revolves around the tension over whether Silien is an informant or not. It's another exploration by Melville of the grey area between those who enforce the law and those who break it, of the uneasy yet powerful relationships that can develop between people on "opposite" sides of the line.

Belmondo and Reggiani are both excellent. The black and white photography by Nicholas Hayer - who also did Cocteau's Orphée and Clouzot's Le Corbeau - is superb, from the wonderfully atmospheric opening sequence (Melville may be THE master of opening sequences) to the stunning, Cocteau-like shot of a man staring into a mirror that closes the film. The plot line gets a bit complicated at times, with rival gangs, a previous jewel heist, murder, betrayals, love affairs, etc. Hard to follow. Which is to say, it's a classic example of film noir. And the jazzy soundtrack by Paul Misraki heightens the cool, noirish sensibility of the film. Whatever his failings as a director, Melville definitely knew how to create a great atmosphere.

Le Doulos is definitely worth checking out, especially by fans of film noir, Melville or Belmondo.

Le Doulos is not as well-known as Melville's later colour pictures, but very much undeservedly so. Gangster films rarely manage to surprise their audience with the plot (unless they sacrifice logic as so often in Raymond Chandler's stories), but here we have an exception. This one is entirely logical and entirely surprising; an extraordinary gangster story of trust, betrayal and code of honour. It is impossible to correctly guess the outcome even when you are through 2/3 of the film.

Highly recommended.

Described by some as an example of 'film noir' or even as an early 'neo-noir', this is the work of auteur, Jean Pierre Melville and as such less a genre work and more his very own. Unlike the American originals, largely spewed out in their dozens and at great speed and low cost, often as B pictures geared to appeal to as large an audience as possible with elements as sensational as could be got away with, this Melville picture has more lofty aims. The director was in the French resistance during the Nazi occupation during war and as he shows here is much more interested in the world of police informers and collaboration than the more classic 'noir' tropes of isolation, alienation and the temptations of the 'femme fatale'. Nevertheless there are some wonderful sequences, like the opening shot on location beneath the railway lines and we have cinematographer, Nicolas Hayer {Panique (1946) and Orphee (1950)} to thank for these because Melville, largely financing his own projects, was always working to a budget and much of his interior studio set pieces here are well below expected standards and jar horribly with the more expansive and expressionist exteriors. Being French, the film also has far too much dialogue and a few scenes in the middle and an extended one towards the end are a considerable drag on what should have been a much more snappy affair. Finally, whilst I acknowledge that there are several US 'noir' classics that have nonsensical of difficult to follow plots, this effort seems far too unnecessarily complicated for the simple tale that it ultimately is.

Jean-Pierre Melville's direction is a glorious tribute to classic American crime films of the 1940's and early 50's but has also a strong touch of originality. The story is set in the early 1960's Paris, but these criminals seem to live in a world of their own. It's a Hollywood film-noir underworld, where men constantly wear hats and trench coats like Humbrey Bogart, brandishing revolvers, drinking bourbon or scotch and driving big American cars, that look like tanks compared to small ordinary European vehicles around. The overall mood is dark and threatening and with the right kind of lightning and photography many scenes seem like epitomes of the best stuff the genre has ever offered.

Compared to its predecessors The Fingerman gives some new shine to the term 'hard boiled'. Women can still be fatal femmes in some sense, but mostly they get pushed around and are allowed attention only when men really need them. They are only there to pass information and sexual favors, nurse wounds and serve as minor helping hands. And when it comes to violence, they get the same rough treatment as any man.

Belmondo's role leans heavily to Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden) in John Huston's adaption of 'The Asphalt Jungle', only with a more visible dark side. His character is a strange and hypnotic mixture of honesty, treachery and bursts of sadistic violence. The way his tone of voice changes to more tender just before assault or murder is gripping. Serge Reggiani, although equally capable to violence, seems more mature and easier to identify with. Both men strongly overpower the happenings but not their own destinies. Fate still has its usual final word, as anyone familiar with characteristics of the genre well knows.

The plot with several flashbacks and changes of time and place may feel a little complex at the beginning, but opens up to be a very rewarding movie experience towards the end. This film easily equals and even surpasses many of its obvious paragons. Of the few Melville's films I have seen at this point this one became an instant favorite in a single viewing even beating the almighty Le Samurai. Very warmly recommended.