Le Samouraï

In Melville’s masterpiece, the director perfectly combines his cinematic concepts. He never conceived his films as images of reality, but as dreams. It is thus all the more remarkable that at the time when most French productions were shot in studios, he shot his films on location. However, he characteristically sought out corners and spaces that matched his surreal and supremely aesthetic vision of genre worlds. Like its protagonist, his fateful and melancholically veiled ode to hired assassins becomes an ideal that fascinates with its outward detachment, refined style and purposeful craftsmanship. Though Le Samouraï contains minimal dialogue, it remains perfectly comprehensible and, mainly, astonishingly suspenseful, at it draws its eloquence both from the power of film language and from cinema as a body of work and genre foundations that are universally comprehensible to viewers. It is thus no wonder that Le Samouraï became another essential work of the genre, adoringly used as a reference work by later greats such as John Woo, Jim Jarmusch and Johnnie To in their own odes to movie killers. (07/08/2023)

Man at work. This is what he does, how he makes his living. Step by step. Every movement recorded. Only the longer time lapses are handle with wipe transitions. Dark and light grey, black. Cold colours that elicit no emotion. That doesn’t belong in the world of the samurai. Like a machine. Repetition of gestures, learned actions, places to return to. The force of habit, if you like. He walks deliberately, purposefully, indifferent to his surroundings. He doesn’t make mistakes, and if he does, he knows the price that he will pay for it in this line of work. The work of the investigators is equally soul-crushing. It takes hours without yielding a satisfactory result. Melville is not interested in action. He distances himself for it just as much as the camera is distant from the confrontation on the bridge. He wants to capture and analyse what precedes the action and what follows it. Slowly and engagingly. Le Samouraï may be a genre film, but if you approach it as such, its meaning will most likely escape you and, at the same time, you will notice how in several respects it doesn’t make sense. For me, it’s one of the most imaginatively made movies about loneliness. 80% (10/09/2014)

A unique film that blends austerity in style with a distinctive formal approach that results in something completely different than could be expected from a thriller about hit-men. It’s dominated by a melancholy, an atmosphere and an aloofness that Melville doesn’t break even in the dialogues limited solely to the most important phrases, which allows for the development of a simple story about revenge, but mainly about loneliness and suppressed emotions. The atmosphere and the captivating portrayal of the protagonist pin the viewer to the screen, so it’s a pity the narrative is set at one expression until the end, which is not very interesting when it comes to the staging, even though it stands out as an idea and as part of a thoughtful piece of work. 85% (10/26/2018)

Melville's film world features long shots, silent charismatic men, balloon coats, and elegant men's hats. This time, he also played with the image to emphasize the atmosphere. The colors appear faded, with a predominant blue-gray tone. At times, the film looks as if it was shot in black and white. The film comes off as distant, and cold, just like its protagonist - the hitman Jef Costello - a man without emotions, without expression or gestures, mechanically executing what is necessary for the task and survival. The film somewhat resembles Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal, both in the professional approach of the antihero and the economical narrative style, where the camera records step-by-step the preparations for the crime and its subsequent execution. Alain Delon perfectly suits these types of roles - in fact, I believe that The Godson and Cop Story are his cinematic peaks. He often played silent tough men who could speak with their eyes, but this is the role in which he reduced his vocabulary the most. The elegant appearance of his hitman contrasts with the unfriendly environment of his household and neighborhood, where he survives. I could only fault the film for two things - an impeccable hitman would probably have quickly disposed of his coat after being seen, and secondly, the ending is not just cinematic, but I would say explicitly theatrical. A character from the real world would probably play their final part with more objectivity and civility. I was considering giving it four stars, but I noticed that I always give Melville four stars, and within his filmography, this is definitely one of the peaks. In any case, it is a stylish ride with a sense of detail that fans of the genre will enjoy. Overall impression: 90%. (01/12/2016)

A movie that at the very beginning quotes a text from Bushido, that is called Samurai and on top of that it was made by the authors who gave birth to the legendary era of French crime movies makes me think about whether there is anything about it that could fail. And having seen it, I must say that there isn’t. The only thing is that I had a different idea of a loner than the one presented in this movie. (12/01/2015)