Diabolically Delon: Three French Thrillers
French thrillers Diabolically Yours, Farewell Friend, and Un Flic star the handsome and controversial tough guy, Alain Delon, whose off-screen persona was not unlike his hard bastard characters.
jean-pierre melville
Resounding Silence and Profound Superfluity: The Actorly Camera in Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Un flic’
The movements of the camera in Melville's Un flic attempt to overcome one of the most inscrutable divides in existence.
Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Le Samouraï’ Plays with the Perils of the Loner
Under the lens of cultural and historical context, as well as understanding the reflective nature of popular culture, it's hard not to read this film as a cautionary tale about the limitations of isolationism.
Contentious Collaboration: Cocteau, Melville, and ‘Les Enfants Terribles’
Paul and Élisabeth yearn to savor the elixir of transcendent possibility, but know only the bitter taste of wretched futility.
Les Durs and the Anatomy of the (French) Tough Guy: Gabin, Ventura, and Belmondo
At Les Durs (The Tough Guys) Film Fest, the tough guy is a bulwark against decay; he's the guarantor of value -- even if that value is compromised by the world around him.
Jean Pierre Melville’s ‘La silence de la mer’ Is the French Resistance in Microcosm
Austere even by Jean-Pierre Melville's later standards, La silence de la mer is a powerful testament to nonviolent resistance.