Le Doulos (2007)

Really Surprised!

Instant Favorite.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The plots of some of Raymond Chandler's stories were not even understood by their author. From the reviews on this site it is clear I am not alone in having problems with the plot of this film. The beginning was fairly clear, although it was difficult to know why the gloomy released prisoner, Maurice Faugel, suddenly shot the kind and friendly old fence, Gilbert. The ending was fairly clear: it was obvious that mistakes were being made by the trigger-happy threesome, Faugel, Silien and a jailbird called Kern. I understood hardly anything of the stuff in between. It kept me guessing. If I watch the film some few times again, with the help of Wikipedia's elucidation, perhaps I will be able to figure it out.Faugel reminded me slightly of Mr Bean. Belmondo, the only familiar face, who plays the multiple treble-crosser, Silien, seemed very different from the character in "Breathless", although that film was made only two years earlier. He looked slimmer, more restrained and subdued, and younger, although he had seemed quite young in "Breathless".It's all very intriguing and bewildering. The girls are extremely badly treated, beaten up and even murdered by the men. It is baffling and difficult to know why, but this kind of relationship between the sexes is quite typical of noir films. Somebody once told me it's because relationships during the war, WWII, had been characterized by unease, treachery and faithlessness.On its release the film was given a mindlessly critical review in the New York Times. I was entertained.

I am ashamed. I intend to comment a sequence about a film I consider one of the best french crime flick ever, and directed by the greatest french film makers ever, and I don't remember which actors are in the sequence I want to talk about. I only remember Reggiani in this scene.It takes place in an attic, at least in an old mansion, where two friends talk to each other in front of a loot: jewelery pieces. One of the two is sitting on a bed, playing with his piece, whilst his pal is standing with the other fellow behind his back. Follow me?The guy sitting - I am nearly sure Reggiani - goes on playing with the gun and suddenly his friend turns back to face his friend talking to him. A friend who has the gun barrel just point on the standing man's chest. WITH NO INTENT TO KILL HIM. The two friends stop talking and fix one's eyes to each other. No comment. An absolutely terrific moment. Guess what will the sitting man do, whilst seeing his long time pal watching him with the gun pointed in his direction, with the loot besides... The sitting man finally SHOOTS his pal. ONLY ONLY ONLY because he would have NEVER beared to continue living besides his friend with this terrible doubt between the two of them. At least from his pal, who would have never looked his friend in the same way anymore. Unbearable here too.The absolute perfection to describe the complex manhood friendship that we only could find in Jean-Pierre Melville's films, and Pierre Lesou's novels.

The French may or may not have invented film noir, but they certainly refined it. This film is no exception. For anyone who enjoys hard boiled crime fare, this film will be another feather in your cap. The plot concerns a petty thief (Jean Paul Belmondo)who did a hitch in prison for theft, gets involved in another caper right straight away. Jean Pierre Melville (who directed such noir fare as Army Of Shadows) shows a fine hand for dealing with the dregs of society in a film that is handsomely shot in atmospheric black & white. The print I had the pleasure to see is a brand new 35mm print that is a treat to behold on a cinema screen,proper. Belmondo,as well as the principal male cast members play the swine to perfection.

Themes of trust, betrayal, friendship and masculinity are all dealt with in this story. Maurice has just been released from prison but does not appear to have learnt anything as he immediately murders his friend Gilbert then goes on to attempt another robbery. His friend Silien attempts to help him stay clean but these attempts are met with animosity on Maurice's part and he even goes as far as to hire a hit-man to kill Silien before he realises that he is a true friend; or is he? No full answers are ever given which leads the viewer to create their own conclusions.Jean Pierre Melville has created a wonderful film which has references to the classic American film noir of the 1950's but also creates a wonderfully fresh French example of the deconstruction of the gangster image and masculinity itself.Jean Paul Belmondo is wonderful, sexy and exiting in his depiction of Silien and Serge Reggiani plays Maurice perfectly by brooding his way through the entire film.This film is a must see for all fans of the gangster genre. Tarantino has used many of the elements of Melville's work in his own so it will seem really familiar to you if you are a Tarantino fan.