Review of Le Doulos (1962) by Kris K — 29 Dec 2008

Lesser Melville, which is to say that it's a cut above nearly everything of its ilk, but not up to par with "Bob le Flambeur". The title is explained in the expected text prologue: "doulos" is both slang for a hat and a Police informant. The exquisitely ugly yet magnetic Jean-Paul Belmondo, fresh from Godard's revolutionary "Breathless", is both: an informer who has a signature fedora.

In a rare misstep, he's not the main character of this simplistic revenge story. Over the titles, we follow a recently released con as he walks under a bridge in one long tracking shot. It's Serge Reggiani, who can be seen in Ophuls' "La Ronde" and some of Becker's masterworks. His form is shrouded in shadow and boxed in by the bleak industrial architecture, before emerging in a snowy field: sort of an inversal of the legendary 'birth' opening of "Blast of Silence". His date with destiny involves entering the house of a former friend, plugging him in the back, and escaping with a sack full of jewels (never once taking off his trenchcoat or hat). None of the violence in this movie is glamorous, and most, if not all of it, is directed toward unsuspecting or helpless victims.

From the very first time you see Belmondo, you can tell he's a sleaze of the highest order. This is confirmed during a horrifying sequence in the apartment of Reggiani's girlfriend that is pretty much guaranteed to eliminate any remaining audience sympathy. The story becomes unfocused as we cut back and forth between Reggiani planning a robbery and Belmondo dealing with cops. It's frustrating how many times the protagonist goes back and forth on whether or not his dubious ally is a stoolie, but the psychology seems to be very well thought-out. Of course, everything culminates in a heist gone sour. The lowered scale of the action is indicative of the intimacy of the story. Instead of a gang robbing millions from a heavily guarded place, we follow Reggiani and a cohort (wearing identical "burglar costumes") on a nighttime home invasion, and a great deal of tension is wrung out of the obligatory safecracking. Sound design here is a huge plus, as great pains must be taken to muffle the cacophony of the cracking.

Since we are privy to all available information, the tale takes on the veneer of epic tragedy as misunderstandings, assumptions, and lies compound to produce a quick, brutal ending leaving no one unscathed. Watch out for checkered tile floors; in "Le Doulos" they seem to be a portent of doom.