Le Doulos
Director - Jean-Pierre Melville
Cast - Jean-Paul Belmondo, Michel Piccoli
Country of Origin - France
Distributor - Kino Lorber
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 08/20/2019
Ever since I first watched the classic thriller, Diabolique, I have had a strong interest in watching other French thrillers, crime dramas and Noir that found its way on my cinematic radar. With Le Samourai, The Wages of Fear and The Rules of the Game, among others under my cinematic belt, I have continued to dive deeper and check out even more French films that I felt would be of interest to me. Le Doulos, up until last year was a film that I admittedly had not heard of until it was announced for a Blu-ray release; now the film is part of my own collection!
Le Doulos is a 1963 French crime Noir thriller involved heists, betrayal and loaded with gun violence. A burglar Maurice Faugel (Serge Reggiani) is released after serving a prison sentence. Apparently not having learned anything, he plans another big heist with a couple of his friends Silien (Jean-Paul Belmondo, Le Professionnel) and Remy (Philippe Nahon, Let Sleeping Cops Lie). He first ties up a few loose ends by murdering his friend Gilbert Vanovre (René Lefèvre) in cold blood for killing his girlfriend six years earlier, steals his valuables from a recent robbery and hides them. Soon after, Maurice and his accomplices Remy and Silien plan their next break-in. But what Maurice doesn’t know is Silien is police informer, which could ultimately lead to a betrayal and even murder. And I’ll leave it at that so not to spoil some of the great twists and turns Le Doulos has.
Le Doulos is a stylish film and is a must watch. With the use of scenes taking place in fog-filled evening skies and a lack of music throughout coinciding with the methodical direction of Jean-Pierre Melville gives his film a strong atmospheric feel to it. You also know you’re in for something special with an early surprise out of nowhere shooting sequence and traitorous act within the first few minutes. The musical score for the film is by Paul Misraki and fits the tone of the film perfectly while the lavish cinematography is courtesy of Nicolas Hayer
Kino Lorber’s presentation of Le Doulos is nothing short of fantastic. The video quality of the film, given a 4K scan look crisp and clear as if the movie made in modern times. The picture has a balanced grey scale, deep rich black levels. It’s a bright crisp image with excellent contrast. This is simply put a beautiful visual presentation.
The audio track, French DTS-HD master audio 2.0 (with optional English subtitles) is flawless, with the dialog, music and other sounds coming in clear. Audio is at its strongest and most aggressive when gunshots are fired, which are quite jolting.
There are some cool extras for this release. We get an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan. In the commentary he of course discusses the film in great detail. Along with that are a couple of excellent featurettes, both of which run about 30 minutes.
The Demon Within Him: Interview with First Assistant Director Volker Schlöndorff is an interview with Volker Schlondorff, where he recollects working with Melville on Le Doulos and shares many other tidbits and information.
Birth of the Detective Story Melville Style is a documentary featuring French/Bulgarian writer Denitza Bantcheva and director Schlöndorff who discuss Jean-Pierre Melville, going into detail about his style of filmmaking and also some more origins to Le Doulos.
The remaining extras are a theatrical trailer for Le Doulos and other Melville films including Léon Morin, Priest, Bob Le Flambeur, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi Razzia Sur La Chinouf and Alphaville.
Le Doulos is a superior film that should be part of any foreign film collection. The Kino Lorber release gives it the best audio/video presentation to date along with some great bonus features makes this a highly recommended package.
