Senses of Cinema on two Jean-Pierre Melville classics

March 24, 2015 11:22 PM

Senses of Cinema on two Jean-Pierre Melville classics: Temenuga Trifonova on Le Samouraï and Brian L. Frye on Bob le flambeur
posted by juv3nal (4 comments total)

All the scenes in the film Le Samourai featuring the car beloved by 1960s French presidents, philosophers and hit men: Citroen DS
posted by Mister Bijou at 3:37 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

Thanks for posting this.
posted by timshel at 4:06 AM on March 25, 2015

The article on Le Samouraï is distressingly thin. The cinematography is barely mentioned, the soundtrack almost not at all. I appreciate the fairly extensive placement of the film as an intertext, but the critique barely rises above the level of the merely thematic; and even then, well, there's a fairly obvious inversion (and redoubling) of the Orphic myth that goes completely untouched. How is the thematic material articulated through specific formal — photographic, sonic, musical — choices? This is pretty much the critic's job, and it's not being done here. The article could as easily be about a novel as a film, which is, frankly, damning.

PS — watch the film, it is excellent.
posted by Wolof at 6:38 AM on March 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'd note (like Wolof's comment above) that there also seems to be quite a bit left out of the overview of 'Bob le Flambeur'. They don't mention that trippy vibraphone soundtrack hovering over everything, or how the final plan for the heist is presented like a dream sequence, etc. These unique stylistic touches are part of what makes this film more memorable than your average gangster story of the time.

(Yes, of course you should see it. I personally prefer the lighter touch of 'Bob le Flambeur' to 'Le Samourai', but it's a matter of taste.)
posted by ovvl at 10:09 AM on March 25, 2015