Review of Le Samouraï (1967) by David B — 07 May 2009

Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a professional hitman who makes the mistake of allowing himself to be seen during one of his assignments. The witness, however, chooses not to identify him in the police line-up.

This is the most fetishistic of all noir films and the epitome of Jean-Pierre Melville?s reinterpretations of Hollywood crime cinema. Melville had been a huge influence on the French New Wave directors, but he had fallen out of favor by the time of Le Samouraï and the film was not well received in its initial run, even though it is now considered Melville?s masterpiece.

It?s understandable why the critics at the time didn?t like it: social revolution was in the air and Melville?s film was defiantly old school, advocating an individualistic code of ethics that was out of sync with the times.

But Melville was not oblivious to this. Indeed, it is one of the main themes of the film. Costello?s shabby, monochromatic, noirish world stands in deliberate contrast to the mod stylings of 1967 Paris; he is a man out of time, a lone samurai, the last of a dying breed.

Melville?s characters don?t talk much and there is a spareness to his style, but it is always mesmerizing to watch. The chase sequence on the Metro, in particular, shows that you don?t need shakycams, explosions, and hyperactive editing to generate white knuckle suspense.