# Cercle rouge, Le (1970)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

LE CERCLE ROUGE (director: Jean-Pierre Melville; cast: Alain Delon (Corey), Gian Maria Volonté (Vogel), Yves Montand (Jansen), André Bourvil (Mattei), François Périer (Santi), André Ekyan (Rico), 1970-France)

This is a noir film, one of the last one's shot that can truly emulate the spirit of the one's shot in the heyday of American noir, in the 40s and the 50s. Melville shoots in a dark color tone, that sets the dire mood of the violent story about a prison escape, a heist, a double-cross, and the untrustworthy nature of people. Melville wanted to make a French version of John Huston's noir classic, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (50), as Melville imbued in his film his strong beliefs about what a gangster picture should look like, making it original while covering all the subplots of that genre he could manage to fit into a film that runs for 150 minutes. This is a transitional film, as it makes way for a new wave of crime films to follow, one's that will reflect the changing mores of society and the changes within the criminal code that the new decade brings with it.

Corey (Delon) is a steely-eyed hood, who is being released from prison tomorrow, when he breaks into the cell of another prisoner, Vogel (Volonté), to tell him that he can arrange to help him escape tomorrow if he agrees to join him in a heist he has planned. Vogel escapes from a moving train, as a massive police hunt is on the way for his capture, led by the fair-haired Corsican, Superintendent Mattei (Bourvil), who is quite an interesting character, as well as being a cat-lover, whose boss, the police commissioner, while pressing him to do everything possible to get Vogel, lectures him that every man is guilty, something that slowly sinks into Mattei's consciousness as his investigation broadens.

While the escape is taking place, Corey goes back to Marseilles to get money from his crime boss Rico (Ekyan), who tries to put him off, so Corey robs him, causing Rico to send a couple of his gang members after him, who end up getting shot by Vogel, who by this time has joined Corey in the car he just bought with Rico's money. The intense action scenes amidst the changing weather from rain to snow, plus the wooded area and the roadblocks the men must cross to get back to Paris, gives the film an air of resolute desperation, that is intriguing to watch, as each camera shot is done by the hands of a master, reaching far into his characters and their surroundings.

To help with the jewel heist,Vogel suggests a friend of his, a former police marksman who cracked up from the pressure of the job, Jansen (Yves), who is first seen having a nightmare that bugs are attacking him, that is very movingly shot, and is framed like it is a painting on canvas by one of the master's of horror painting, someone like a Francis Bacon. Bunuel has very effectively used surreal shots like this in some of his films.

The heist of the Place Vendome is excuted in silence for the 30- odd minutes it takes to pull off the job. There are five men involved in this jewel heist, these three plus a tip-off man and the fence. But when the robbery is completed, the fence backs out because he is pressured to by a local gangster, Santi (Périer), who is a nightclub owner and pimp, and a one time informant for Mattei, who leans heavily on him to cooperate in this case. For Mattei, there is no such thing as police without informers. This relationship made in hell, makes no one an innocent.

The film's conclusion is as violent as it has to be, since the mood was set from the film's onset to end this way. By this time, we know all the character's rather well, as we see who turns on the other, and how hypertense a policeman's job is, with not that much sanity separating his job from the criminal's.

This is a top notch noir film. It has done an outstanding job in uncovering the themes of alienation and desperation, that drive men so hard that it is impossible for them to transcend their criminal nature.

    REVIEWED ON 4/27/99            GRADE: A

Dennis Schwartz: " Ozus World Movie Reviews"

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ

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