Director Jean-Pierre Melville (1917)

Dirty Money (1972) is a crime thriller film, the final work of director Jean-Pierre Melville before his passing the following year. On a rainy winter day in Saint-Jean-de-Monts, France, Simon and his three accomplices carry out a bank heist. The team consists of Marc Albouis and Paul Weber, who enter the bank with Simon, and Louis Costa, their designated getaway driver who remains outside. As they prepare to leave the scene, a teller triggers the alarm and Marc is caught in the crossfire, ultimately causing him to shoot and fatally wound the teller. The group flees with only a portion of their intended loot and heads ...

The crime film, The Red Circle (1970), is primarily set in Paris and was helmed by director Jean-Pierre Melville. After being released early from a Marseille prison for good behavior, Corey receives a tip from a prison warden about a high-end jewelry store in Paris that he could potentially rob. Paying a visit to his former associate Rico, who has previously betrayed him and now lives with his ex-girlfriend, Corey forcefully obtains money and a handgun from Rico’s safe. He then makes his way to a billiard hall, where he comes across two of Rico’s men. In self-defense, Corey kills one and knocks out the other ...

Army of Shadows (1969) is a World War II suspense-drama film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Philippe Gerbier, the head of a French Resistance cell, is arrested on suspicion of Resistance activity by Vichy French police. Despite being acquitted due to insufficient evidence, he is sent to an internment camp. Gerbier and a young Communist collaborate on an escape plan, but before they can carry it out, he is transferred to Paris. While awaiting interrogation by the Gestapo, Gerbier manages to kill a guard and flee. In Marseille, he reunites with Félix Lepercq, Guillaume ‘Le Bison’ Vermersch, and ...

Le Samouraï (1967) is a neo-noir crime thriller film directed and written by Jean-Pierre Melville, starring Alain Delon. Jef Costello, an impassive hitman who resides in a sparse single-room apartment in Paris, keeps a small caged bird as his companion. Using meticulous techniques, he creates foolproof alibis with the help of his lover, Jane. However, after carrying out his latest contract killing on nightclub owner Martey, Jef is spotted by several witnesses including Valerie, the club’s piano player. Despite being brought in for a lineup by the police, none of the ...

The French crime-thriller film, Second Wind (1966), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Lino Ventura, follows incarcerated gangster Gustave ‘Gu’ Minda. Known for his loyalty to the French underworld and refusal to give up his accomplices to the police, Gu escapes from prison and travels to Paris to visit his sister Manouche and her bodyguard Alban. Meanwhile, Manouche’s current boyfriend Jacques Ribaldi is killed in her restaurant by rival gangster Paul Ricci’s henchmen. Concerned for her safety, Paul’s brother Jo sends two men to ...

Magnet of Doom (1963) is a French noir film, helmed by Jean-Pierre Melville and adapted from the novel of the same name by Georges Simenon. In Paris, Michel Maudet – an ex-soldier and aspiring boxer – suffers a defeat in his first major match, leading to him being fired by his manager. In need of work, he responds to an advertisement for a male secretary with a willingness to travel and is immediately hired by Dieudonné Ferchaux, the senior partner of a struggling bank who has a criminal background. Without informing his girlfriend Lina, whom he leaves without ...

Adapted from Pierre Lesou’s novel of the same name, Jean-Pierre Melville’s French crime film Le Doulos (1962) follows Maurice Faugel as he reconnects with his friend Gilbert, who is appraising jewels from a recent heist. Eager to plan a robbery, Maurice enlists the help of Silien and Rémy. In a twist, Maurice ends up using Gilbert’s own gun to kill him and steal the jewels and a large sum of money. It turns out that Gilbert had killed Maurice’s girlfriend Arlette years ago to prevent her from talking to the police while Maurice was in prison. As ...

Léon Morin, Priest (1961) is a French drama film helmed by director Jean-Pierre Melville. The story is based on Béatrix Beck’s award-winning novel The Passionate Heart. Set during the Occupation of France, the film follows Barny, a single mother residing in a small town in the French Alps with her daughter France. To make ends meet, Barny works as an assignment corrector for a Parisian correspondence school that has relocated to their town. Grief-stricken by the loss of her Jewish husband in the war and lacking sexual satisfaction, she finds herself drawn ...

Two Men in Manhattan (1959) is a French film noir written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. On the evening of December 23, Moreau, a reporter for Agence France-Presse (AFP), is tasked with uncovering the whereabouts of Fèvre-Berthier, the French delegate to the United Nations, who has mysteriously missed that day’s General Assembly meeting. Despite speaking with McKimmie, an information officer at the UN who has no knowledge on the matter, and Fèvre-Berthier’s family searching for him as well, Moreau hits a dead end. He then turns to his friend Delmas, an alcoholic tabloid photographer, who has captured ...

Bob the Gambler (1956) is a French heist gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. He lives alone in Paris’ Montmartre district, where the demi-monde community holds him in high regard. A former bank robber and convict, Bob has kept out of trouble for two decades and is even on friendly terms with Ledru, a police commissioner whom he once saved. Always a gentleman, Bob takes in Anne, an attractive young woman who has lost her job and is being pursued by Marc, a pimp Bob despises. Despite her advances, Bob resists Anne’s charms and instead introduces her to Paolo, his young protégé who ultimately ...

When You Read This Letter (1953) is a French-Italian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. After their parents pass away in a car accident, Thérèse Voise, a strong-willed young woman, leaves her convent just before taking her vows to dedicate herself to taking care of her younger sister Denise and running the family stationery shop. Thérèse is fiercely protective of Denise and becomes worried when she begins spending time with Max, an amateur boxer and mechanic who has a reputation for being self-centered and morally questionable. Max’s lifestyle includes multiple relationships with women at nightclubs and ...

The French film, The Terrible Children (1950), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and adapted from Jean Cocteau’s novel of the same name, portrays the complex bond between a brother and sister. Elisabeth takes care of their bedridden mother and is fiercely protective of her younger brother Paul. When Paul gets hurt in a snowball fight and has to drop out of school, Elisabeth becomes even more shielding towards him. This causes them to spend most of their time at home with very little visitors besides the doctor and maid. One exception is Paul’s friend Gérard, ...

The French drama film The Silence of the Sea (1949) is Jean-Pierre Melville’s directorial debut. It is based on the book of the same name by Jean Bruller, published in 1942. Set in occupied France in 1941, the story follows a retired man and his adult niece who share a house in a small village. Their peaceful coexistence is disrupted when they are forced to accommodate Werner von Ebrennac, a German lieutenant with a limp. Despite their mutual dislike for him, they silently agree to never speak or acknowledge his presence. The officer often joins them by the fire at ...