Review of Le Doulos (1962) by Adam C — 16 Nov 2009

Le Doulos (1962).

Also known as Doulos: The Finger Man. This is another good Jean-Pierre Melville crime drama that I was able to watch on the Sundance Channel. This seems a lot more Film Noir than Bob le Flambeur, in my humble opinion with it's work in dark shadowy spaces with characters who you simply don't know to trust. And, let's not forget the wonderful femme fatales. :-).

The film starts with Maurice Faugel (Serge Reggiani) walking through the rougher streets of Paris, freshly released from prison. He's got to get back into business, to make some money, but he also has some vengeance in mind.

His friends keep warning him not to trust his other friend, Lilien (played by a very young Jean-Paul Belmondo), including his beautiful girlfriend, Therese (Monique Hennessy), but Maurice feels that he can trust him good enough, unless he's proven wrong. But, things don't look very good for Lilien when the break and enter job that Maurice and a partner are on, turns out to be a set-up.

Both are in it pretty deep with the Police Superintendent Clain (Jean Desailly) who's out to get them anyway that he can, and is also trying to get anyone to rat on their criminal friends.

My friend, groaningbitch, will get a good laugh about Lilien's love of asian fashion sense. His home is all decorated with asian nick nacks, and he has a girlfriend, Fabienne (Fabienne Dali) who even dresses in chinese-style silk dresses. ;-).

All in all, Le Doulos is a very good movie and well worth a watch.