Le Doulos

Jean-Pierre Melville: Le Doulos (FR 1962). Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel).

072162 / 18 / FR / 1962 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / thriller

Doulos, Le / Ilmiantaja. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville – based on the novel by Pierre Lesou. DP: Nicolas Hayer. M: Paul Misraki; piano M: Jacques Loussier. CAST: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Silien), Serge Reggiani (Maurice Faugel), Jean Desailly (Inspector Clain). 108’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 26164. Print: SEA / Adams-filmi. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Thursday 26 February 1998. **** A key Melville work revisited. Silien is the diabolic stool pigeon who manipulates everybody by his well-timed information to the police. His web of deceit completely baffles everybody, and it all leads to a massacre of Shakespearean proportions.

Léon Morin, prêtre

060477 / G / FR / 1961 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama
Léon Morin, prêtre / Kiusaus. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel by Beatrix Beck (1952). DP: Henri Decaë. CAST: Emmanuelle Riva (Barny), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Léon Morin), Nicole Mirel (Sabine Lévy). 128’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 24334. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen / Jerker A. Eriksson. Print: SEA / Eurooppalainen filmi - short 115’ version. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 24 February 1998. **** This film is unique in Melville’s oeuvre in many ways and deeply personal in a way apparently different from his thrillers. It is an Occupation drama with a rich texture of authentic detail. It tells the story of a strong Platonic Lesbian relationship. Children, missing from almost all other Melville films, play an important part here. The figure of the priest is one of the most memorable in the history of the cinema. He can be compared with Father O’Malley in Going My Way or preacher Gruffdydd in How Green Was My Valley. What he says is always original and profound. The French Catholic church accepted the film by the devout Atheist Melville. There is more to the film than Melville admitted. Léon Morin is a profound film about the presence of Judaism in Christianity.