Review of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) by Scubasteve Walter M — 04 May 2012
What's with Alain Delon and his unassailable self in all his films? In Le Cercle Rouge, a 1970s classic, Alain plays Corey, someone who served time in prison but isn't exactly seeking redemption at the end of it. He has a jewelry store in mind, diamonds and necklaces in several impregnable vaults in the store protected with laser rays, CC-TVs and security guards.
Fate brings Corey, Vogel and Mattei together, who team up for this final heist which is shot in dead pan silence, in the final twenty minutes of the film. Vogel is a man on the run after he jumps locks and an astute police officer in a train. Mattei is a retired, pissed off cop.
These men speak very little, smoke a lot, wear their fedoras and have very noisy pistols. There is some unsaid code of honor these men seem to guard, in spite of the several long takes of silences they seem to perform to. Maybe this is what the French New Wave actually represented. Suave, mysterious, hard boiled and brooding criminals who generally kept to themselves even in front of their women and died in the end making us wish we knew more about them.
Le Cercle Rouge is a thriller which makes us worry about its characters as they meticulously plan and execute the daring robbery at the end of the film. This is, remember, without knowing much about any of them. One of them might even cut your throat when he meets you next. We never know but we still love and adore them. Is this reason enough to call Le Cercle Rouge, a good film, in spite of its snail's pace?
Critics, I am told, call this 'deliberate pacing'.
Rating : 3/5.
This review of Le Cercle Rouge (1970) was written by Scubasteve Walter M on 04 May 2012.
Le Cercle Rouge has generally received very positive reviews.
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