Un Flic

Jean-Pierre Melville was a prominent director who stood out from the majority of his French colleagues in the 1950s and 1960s who rejected classical Hollywood and contributed to the emergence of the French New Wave. This movement can be considered a rebellion against previous film conventions and genres. Melville actually admired and developed a style influenced by American gangster films. Many elements and scenes in A Cop cannot deny their inspiration from overseas cinema. Hats, long coats under which you can safely hide a shotgun, empty streets immersed in darkness, minimalistic dialogues, and long gazes that increase tension. For Melville, style meant a lot, sometimes at the expense of other aspects of the film. We can probably attribute his fondness for American cinema to the casting of Richard Crenna as a rival to Alain Delon. The film depicts two audacious robberies carried out by a small but well-organized gang, pursued by none other than Alain Delon, who, in the 1970s, hardly ever took off his police badge even when going to bed. It may not be a perfect 4-star film, partly because Melville underestimated the ending, as had become somewhat customary in his films, which could have left out the logical flaws and could have been somewhat more complicated so as to increase viewer suspense. Nevertheless, for me, the film deserves a 70% rating, noting that Melville bid a dignified farewell to the world of cinema. (14/09/2014)

Melville's last film is unworthy of the name of its creator. Not because of its quality, but because of its technical side. It's hard to say if there were any funding problems, but in any case, it's inappropriate for most of the interiors to be superseded by cheap backdrops (at best) or artificial badly-drawn backgrounds (at worst) so that the movie, a substantial part of which takes place in cars, with amateur-looking rear projections and the action scenes are faked using toy cars. None of this can sink the movie, but unfortunately it draws attention to itself; which is doubly disappointing for a movie that stands or falls on whether or not you succumb to its specific atmosphere... Otherwise, it's classic Melville with all the trimmings; slowly and (very) carefully built, stubbornly silent, macho cool, and unpretentiously stylish. (06/05/2013)

For me it was the first encounter with the director Jean-Pierre Melville. At the same time, it was the last movie he made before he died. Since then I roughly know what to expect from the classic France of the seventies and eighties. In this movie, I was still quite surprised. Surprised by the long wordless scenes, but also by the gloomy characters, with whom I could not make a connection throughout the whole movie. The finale is absolutely honest and strong, the way only the French can do it. It squeezed every emotion from me and then threw me away like a wet rag, and I still thanked it for the job well-done. (04/06/2014)