Le Samouraï (1967) - An Auteur's Masterpiece | Jean-Pierre Melville | Video Essay

[Music] le samurai the 1967 new noah crime thriller by jean-pierre melville is quite arguably one of my favorite movies known to have sparked the lone wolf archetype seen in other movies like taxi driver nightcrawler or drive less samurai is a near perfect masterpiece blending together a simple story through its crafty cinematography brilliant background score and some amazing acting in many ways le samurai follows your typical filmmaking tropes the use of drab colors to depict a cold corrupt world and low-key lighting with shadow play for a thriller that has many shots at night or indoors many films heavily rely on dialogues to keep a story intriguing and for a plot to move forward what jean-pierre melville has achieved in le samurai is therefore quite remarkable the long silences and lack of dialogue accompanied by a captivating background score help to not only set the tone of the film further but keeps the audience hooked in an almost meditative trance [Music] even for a crime thriller you would expect a lot of action scenes but less samurai barely has any and even then they are not nearly as impressive as you would imagine in the words of the late film critic roger ebert the movie teaches us how action is the enemy of suspense how action releases tension instead of building it melville uses character not action to build suspense this slow burn was able to be this good also in part due to the brilliance of elaine dillon's performance his methodical mundane actions are what builds the aforementioned suspense it also helps us to understand the type of life his character jeff lives his silence speaks volumes it is clear that the filmmaker deliberately played out many of the scenes in long sequences where someone else may have used cuts jean-pierre melville decides to hold on to many of these scenes forcing the viewer to be immersed as much as possible in jeff's world as mentioned earlier the movie uses color intelligently to build the world we are witnessing the greys and the dull blues the smog sky and aged walls are all indicators of jeff's world bereft of any joy or life the immorality corruption and crime sprawling all over this paris is unlike the beautiful grandiose of the paris we are all used to seeing jeff having ostracized himself from society is still at the end of the day a real human it is easy to detach an expressionless character with no life to think they are mechanical cogs just existing for the sake of it but we know jeff feels pain he was cheated off his money by his contractors and seeks revenge for it he's also built some form of a bond albeit questionable ones with the women in his life these women too by the way seem to reflect his own existential detachment [Music] hello a samurai may operate alone but as is the case with so many other main characters in a story jeff too has a companion though to be fair jeff's is quite unique his bird just as dull coloured as the surroundings and appearing as innocent as ever is quite the conniving and cunning sidekick at first just appearing to us as a constantly chirping bird we notice its importance in this scene where he witnesses jeff's home being infiltrated and bugged and is later able to communicate his nervous energy into aggressive chirping which alerts jeff to a possible breach the relationship can also be viewed as quid pro quo jeff keeps him fed while the bird has a watchful eye there's a poetic irony amidst them jeff is a man capable of roaming freely of course assuming he isn't under the surveillance of both the police and the underground but he prefers to stay indoors in solitude while the bird is caged forcibly alone and cannot escape his little home less summarized cinematography is also mesmerizing for a story and characters that are otherwise so deadpan the dynamic camera movement is entrancing with the smooth tracks and pants here's a one minute sequence to illustrate this effect as you can see these movements help to immerse the audience in the story as if you are actually following the characters around even a static frame such as the long opening scene is so well framed with our main character framed in the corner of the screen in a room with high ceilings the lighting is high contrast fitting for a crime thriller set mostly in the night and indoors in most if not all scenarios the lighting looks naturalistic accurate to how it might be in real life the shadow play is immaculate creating in and of itself a sense of intrigue it may be a stretch but nevertheless worth noting that jeff almost never has a double shadow being cast on the walls but there are multiple shadows when the policeman is in frame a possible indicator that while the policeman is confident jeff is guilty of his crime there is still a shadow of doubt in his mind since he is unable to find any incriminating evidence against him jean-pierre melville's japanese inspiration for this movie is not in your face but just enough to know it's there we see glimpses of it through the pianist's robe design and jeff's meticulous and orderly fashion of his self-conduct the title which translates to the samurai references that jeff is the personification of the age-old legendary samurais of japanese history their strict code and solitude that they keep is ever present in jeff's loner lifestyle bushido is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes behavior and lifestyle while the quote in the opening scene is a quote by melvil himself there is one in the actual bushido which aligns perfectly with the end of the movie when it is revealed that jeff had decided not to kill the pianist the quote goes honor may not win power but it wins respect and respect earns power jeff may be a hired killer but we root for him nonetheless and his honor in his work earns him that respect when everyone finds out he decided not to assassinate the pianist he becomes the most powerful figure in the room even if ironically he has met his downfall les samurai achieves what it intends to do it keeps the audience engaged in a story where little dialogues are needed through its artistic visuals great performances and an alluring soundtrack all in all this is one of jean-pierre melville's greatest works in the post-french new wave era and frankly speaking one of the best movies i have ever seen and i'm glad that elaine dillon agrees [Music] with her a [Music] you

Channel: Tejas Thakare

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Keywords: le samourai, jean-pierre melville, French film, French new wave, alain delon, neo-noir, crime thriller, dialogue, background score, cinematography, direction, screenplay, le samourai review, le samourai video essay, le samourai explained, le samourai ending, japanese, samurai, bushido, Roger ebert, Ishida mitsunari, video essay, film, criterion collection, movies, lone-wolf, archetype, loner, solitude, virtue, values, belief, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Grumbach

Id: umBlIyUhQxA

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 20 2022