9/25/2023 0 Comments Jean pierre melville un flic![]() ![]() And in this case, it’s not just any woman, it is Catherine Deneuve as Cathy. In the best crime story tradition, it involves a woman. Which makes it all the more surprising when we discover how exactly Eduoard and Simon are connected. Shot in a gloom pierced only by neon and headlights, Un Flic is a cold film. This is in contrast to the ostensible good guy, Edouard, who seemingly spends all of his time being called to Paris crime scenes with his taciturn partner Morand (Paul Crauchet), his appearance in the film prefaced by a quote from Eugène François Vidocq: “The only feelings mankind inspires in policemen are indifference and derision.” The film goes on to establish Simon as a rogue, moonlighting as a charming nightclub owner but capable of violence and a certain viciousness. We know only that he is the leader of a squad of four men (including actors Riccardo Cucciolla, André Pousse and Michael Conrad) and good at what he does. The details on Simon at the outset are kept to an absolute minimum. We meet the latter first in the extended bank robbery sequence that opens the film. Un Flic centres on a duo: the titular cop-“flic” in French-Edouard Coleman (Alain Delon) and the crafty thief Simon (Richard Crenna). And while he may have achieved this more successfully with Le Samourai, Melville’s final film acts as a more fitting grace note to his entire career. It is a film with a potent emotional punch delivered subtly by a craftsman of unique ability. It is Melville’s style distilled to its essence. That’s because in effect Un Flic is an abstraction. Fortunately, that place in history suits the film quite well. So yes, while it’s fair to say Melville himself is definitely not underrated, Un Flic has been a tad left out. These are extremely imperfect metrics, but it’s hard not to chuckle at Un Flic’s Rotten Tomatoes rating of 78 percent, the lowest among the films Melville directed it also happens to be one of just four Melville films that hasn’t earned a spot in the Criterion Collection. ![]() And it doesn’t get lumped in with the other noir classics he wrote and directed-despite a starring role for actor Alain Delon, despite being built around the same cops-and-robbers framework, despite its terrifically lean premise and despite being quite good. Un Flic, the last film Melville ever made, is not often in the discussion as one of his masterworks. So then, what’s there to underrate about Jean-Pierre Melville? Between 19 he directed 13 feature films, and while his work didn’t earn him many awards, his legacy as a first-class filmmaker is secure. The French writer-director is well known for his classic noir films such as Bob le Flambeur and Le Samourai, as well as Léon Morin, Priest and Army of Shadows, his film on the WWII French Resistance, wartime action in which he played a real-life part. To say a Jean-Pierre Melville film is underrated is to perhaps overstate the case. ![]()
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