Le Cercle rouge (1970)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

Film Review

Jean-Pierre Melville's penultimate film is an unashamed, no holds barred homage to the American film noir detective thriller of the 1940s.  Despite the simplicity of its plot and the characteristic minimalism of its style, Le Cercle rouge is conceivably Melville's most sophisticated, most compelling, most perfect film.  Many regard it as one of the greatest - if not the greatest - French film policier, a genre which Melville not only mastered, but which he made an art form in its own right.

Here, in this grim existentialist tale of pointless effort, the director goes further than he has ever gone in creating a closed world with its own rules and hazards, inhabited by melancholic, solitary men who have no hope of salvation or happiness.   Is Melville consciously painting a cynically distorted view of our world to provoke the bourgeois intelligentsia, creating a fantasy nightmare world to entertain the masses, or can it simply be that this is how he happened to see the world around him?  Like so much about Melville and his work, this ambiguity of intent both intrigues and chills its spectator.

Attracting around four million spectators, Le Cercle rouge was to be Jean-Pierre Melville's most successful film, and this success was in no small measure down to its exceptional cast.  The film united a popular Italian film star, Gian Maria Volonté, with three living legends in French cinema - Alain Delon, Yves Montand and - astonishingly - Bourvil.  Delon had previously worked with Melville on Le Samouraï (1967) and is perfectly suited to the kind of taciturn, morally ambiguous characterisation which adorns Melville's films.  Yves Montand was also known for playing tough roles and, as a washed out cop-turned-crook, he turns in one of his most sympathetic and credible film performances.

Most surprising is the casting of Bourvil in the part of a rough and, in fact, rather nasty police inspector.  At the time, Bourvil was known universally in France as a comic performer, with a huge string of popular film comedies under his belt.  He was offered the part by the film's producer, Robert Dorfmann, when actor Lino Ventura walked away from the project (reportedly after having been offended by the film's director).  With a toupee and smart suit, Bourvil is transformed from his familiar comic persona and gives an extraordinarily believable - and rather touching - performance.   Sadly, this was to be Bourvil's last film appearance but one - he died a few weeks before the film's release in November 1970.   Gian Maria Volonté completes the ensemble, playing a vicious criminal who perfectly complements the suave feline Delon and the world-weary Montand.

Melville described Le Cercle rouge as one of the most difficult he had to direct, mainly because of his poor working relationship with Volonté, who resented the director's authoritarian manner.  It is certainly Melville's most ambitious film and his most technically demanding.  In addition to several action scenes, the film includes a magnificent set piece: the meticulously executed robbery sequence.  The latter is almost a direct replay of the jewel heist scene in what is often cited as the finest example of French film noir, Du rififi chez les hommes (1955) and allows us to marvel at the breathtaking detail and precision in Melville's art.  The influence of the American gangster film (particularly John Huston's 1950 film The Asphalt Jungle) is also clearly evident in this part of the film.

Le Cercle rouge marks the absolute summit in Melville's film making career.  Although relentlessly pessimistic - a feeling that is emphasised by the bleak location photography, the brutally tragic ending and the fact that most of the film is set at night - there is a streak of humanism that is scarcely discernible in Melville's previous gangster films.  This lends the film a poignancy which allows us to feel for the characters (even if practically nothing is revealed to us about their past), as they are drawn ever closer towards their ineluctable doom... in the Red Circle.

Film Synopsis

Police superintendent Mattei is escorting a suspected criminal, Vogel, across France on a train.  After a daring escape, Vogel, goes on the run.  With the police closing in on him, the fugitive hides in the boot of a car owned by a sophisticated crook, Corey, who has only just been released from prison.   When Vogel saves Corey's life, the two men strike up an immediate rapport.  Corey offers Vogel a part in an ambitious jewel robbery, to take place in Paris's prestigious Place Vendôme.  They recruit a third man, Jansen, formerly a detective, now an alcoholic recluse, whose skill as a marksman is key to the success of the operation.  Meanwhile, Mattei is doggedly on the trail of Vogel and will resort to any means to bring him to justice...