Le Deuxième Souffle (1966)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville.
Written by: José Giovanni and Jean-Pierre
Melville based on the novel by José Giovanni.
Starring: Lino Ventura (Gustave 'Gu'
Minda), Paul Meurisse (Commissaire Blot), Raymond Pellegrin (Paul Ricci), Christine
Fabréga (Simone - dite 'Manouche'), Marcel Bozzuffi (Jo Ricci), Paul Frankeur (Inspector
Fardiano), Denis Manuel (Antoine Ripa), Jean Négroni (L'homme), Michel
Constantin (Alban), Pierre Zimmer (Orloff), Pierre Grasset (Pascal), Jacques
Léonard (Henri Tourneur), Raymond Loyer (Jacques, le notaire), Albert Michel (Marcel
le Stéphanois), Jean-Claude Bercq (Inspecteur Godefroy), Louis Bugette (Théo,
le passeur), Albert Dagnant (Jeannot Franchi), Sylvain Levignac (Louis Bartel).
One
of the interesting things about watching all of Jean-Pierre Melville’s films in
a row is figuring out why some have become the types of films that critics
describe as masterworks, and others have fallen by the wayside – still not
overly examined or talked about, even if others in his filmography have been
rediscovered. To this point in his filmography, Le Deuxième Souffle is the most
curious case of this – because it is clearly a transitional film for Melville –
part Bob La Flambeur or Le Doulos and part Le Samourai – but not quite either.
It’s his final film in black and white, and shows Melville’s absolute mastery
of the shadows and light that make it such a wonderful format for movies. It’s
also hugely entertaining – and was, at the time, Melville’s most successful
film commercially. And yet, Le Deuxième Souffle hardly gets mentioned – not
nearly as much as other Melville masterworks, but it clearly deserves to be.
Hopefully it’s one that everyone just needs to catch up with.
The
film is another of Melville’s looks at a criminal underworld – concerned with
loyalty, friendship and betrayal, which perhaps represented what Melville
himself was feeling at the time – as he was ostracized from much of the
mainstream in French filmmaking, and the New Wave at the same time. It has
similarities to Le Doulos, but while that film was fast moving and fleet of foot
– with a complex web of a plot nearly impossible to unwind, the plot here is
relatively straight forward – and is more drawn out. This is a film that runs
two-and-a-half hours, and uses that time wisely.
After
some customary title cards – about a man choosing his own death – the film
opens with a terrific wordless and music-less scene of three men breaking out
of prison that will likely bring to mind the extended climax of Robert
Bresson’s A Man Escaped (1956) for some. One of the men don’t make it – and we
don’t really care about one of the other two. Who we concentrate on is Gu Minda
(Lino Ventura) – a man who has been in prison for 10 years for a robbery, and
was never going to get out again if he didn’t escape. No he’s out – but not
really free. His escape is a major story – a dogged police detective, Blot
(Paul Meurisse) is on his trail, and isn’t likely to give up so easily. Gu has
no money with which to build a new life, even if he can get out of France. What
he does have are some loyal friends – a sister who is willing to do anything to
help get him free, and some connections to the underworld which may have a job
for him that would allow the kind of money for which he can live on for the
rest of his life. But that opening quote – about a man choosing his own death –
hangs over the movie. We know things aren’t going to end so cleanly here.
Gu
is an older character than many in Melville’s films – he is 47, but because of
the last decade behind bars, he seems even older, wearier than most men his age.
In many ways, it kind of feels like Gu has broken out of prison, not to build
some big, new exciting life – but rather to end his life on his own terms, not
as some sad sack prisoner, but as a man of action. When, late in the film, Gu’s
action become the subject of much debate as to whether or not he was a rat, all
he really wants to do is set the record straight – to secure his legacy as a
standup criminal, not because he’s worried about the consequences. Those have
already been set, and there is no going back.
The
film has a couple of brilliant action set pieces in it. The first is obviously
that wonderful prison break sequence. The other one is the extended robbery
sequence at the half way point – where Gu has teamed up with four other
criminals, much to his sister’s chagrin, to pull off essentially an armored car
robbery. The robbery is violent – people are killed – but it is an example, as
in much of Melville, of a job that is planned, and executed, with precision and
professionalism. Of course, the fallout from that robbery is the fallout from
almost every big screen robbery – as the cops close in, and the various
gangsters are brought in by the cops, and start turning on each other. In some
ways, it is Le Doulos all over again – with people concerned over who is the
finger man, and plotting based on incomplete information, that ends in nothing
more death. But this time, it isn’t wrapped in such an entertaining package –
it’s a sadder state of affairs here, with a clean getaway impossible no matter
what they do.
There
is a lot here to unpack. In many ways, I think this is perhaps the most like a
Michael Mann film – namely heat – of all of Melville’s work. Melville is often
brought up in relation to Mann, because both filmmakers don’t really concern
themselves with psychological depth, as much as they allow the character’s
action define their morality. They like people are professionals, defined by
their work, by their adherence to a code. In the relationship between Gu and
Blot, you see some similar dimensions of what you would see between DeNiro and
Pacino in Mann’s epic masterwork. They are on opposite sides of the law, but
respect each other because they both adhere to their own code – Blot goes as
far as to give a reporter a story of what really happened with Gu –
retroactively giving him his legacy back, even if he’s not around to enjoy it.
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