Le Doulos - Wellington Film Society

Jean-Pierre Melville | France | 1962 | M

“Belmondo, still somewhat Breathless, plays Silien, a petty thief who may or may not be a ‘finger man’ (stool pigeon); the actor didn’t know whether or not he was playing an informer until he saw the final cut of the film. Full of bravura sequences, the most famous being a take that lasts 9 minutes 38 seconds, Le doulos offers a surfeit of style and Belmondo at his best. The impossibly cool Le doulos is a pure expression of Jean-Pierre Melville’s style and ethos. It is also his most significant tribute to American cinema. (Time Magazine commented that the film made Paris ‘look like a back lot at Warner Brothers.’) Beautiful, violent - J. Hoberman counts eight killings, Joan Didion nine - and ‘attitude drenched’ (Hoberman), the film has been described by Melville as ‘a nocturnal western in the city.’ Quentin Tarantino recently called Le doulos ‘my favourite screenplay of all time.’ (One can see in its twisty tale of treachery a template for Reservoir Dogs.)”
- Cinematheque Ontario.

“Terrific performances, and equally terrific camerawork… conjure a rivetingly treacherous, twilight world.”
- Tom Milne, Time Out.

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