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Le Cercle Rouge

Yves Montand in "Le Cercle Rouge."

FILM FACTS

Starring: Alain Delon, Gian-Maria Volonté and Yves Montand
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Rating: Not rated, but there is violence and brief nudity
Genre: 70s, Crime, Suspense, Re-release

Discuss this film | Official movie site

See showtimes (Not rated) 140 minutes

Grade: B+

Verdict: Classic French cool.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Do what you like about French wine and french fries, but don't let your politics interfere with seeing the French film "Le Cercle Rouge." Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1970, the movie has been spruced up, restored to its original length and brought back into theaters by none other than John Woo. The celebrated director says "Le Cercle Rouge" was a key influence on his work. And, yes, you can see it in the themes of honor and betrayal, the precise choreography of certain scenes, the fatalistic violence and the precedence of image over words.

The picture takes place the year it was made. It's a time when men wore trench coats and dangled cigarettes from their lips. A time when women (of which there are very few here) had Bardot-tousled hair and rail-thin, unaerobicized bodies. A time when an interrogation at a police station might slip over into a philosophical debate, and hit men carried their guns in guitar cases.

The movie opens with a Buddhist quote, which may or may not be made up by Melville (something he was apparently prone to do). It goes something like this: Two men from different places and backgrounds will one day be inevitably drawn together in a red circle.

The two men here are Corey (dapper Alain Delon, with his blue-ice eyes), a just-released convict, and Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté), a just-escaped one.

Their "red circle" is a risky and complex jewel heist in the heart of Paris. The circle widens to include a fence, a man on the inside and, most importantly, Jansen, a cop-turned-sharpshooter-for-hire, played by Yves Montand, the man with one of the sexiest battered faces in French cinema. Jansen is a serious alcoholic who hallucinates snakes and scorpions crawling into his room, which is decorated in hideous striped wallpaper that would be enough to give anyone the d.t.'s.

However, there's another, unwanted presence in the circle. He's Mattei (André Bourvil), a patient, meticulous, cat-loving cop -- and the man from whom Vogel escaped. He will be the one to bring the film, well, full circle.

Melville uses silence masterfully. Like Harold Pinter's famous pauses, everything is said without anything being said. The movie's centerpiece -- the robbery -- is an extended (a little too extended), almost balletlike sequence that takes place in almost total silence. The effect is eerie and somewhat otherworldly, like ninjas in slo-mo.

Melville is also a genius at creating suspense. He does it through character, not dialogue or fancy editing. Someone's momentary hesitation or a slight sideways glance is enough to put you on edge.

"Le Cercle Rouge" is enthrallingly retro-cool. Big American cars are a superpower contrast to the constant flow of smaller Citroêns. Montand shows up for his part in the heist dressed in a tuxedo. Earlier, in an iconic French Film Moment, he stares at himself in a filthy mirror, contemplating his disheveled hair and three-day-growth as he shakily lights a cigarette.

Coolest of all is how Melville achieves so much with so little fuss. It's the difference between the Dolby-ized explosions and machine guns in today's pictures and the quiet pop of a small gun. One is overkill; the other is understatement ... and it's much more compelling.