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Credits
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Summary
Jef Costello is a professional hit-man who lives by
his own rules and never loses. However, he is picked up by the police
after killing a night-club owner and held as their number-one suspect.
He is provided with an apparently water-tight alibi by his girlfriend and
released from custody. However, the police superintendent remains
convinced of his guilt and has him placed under surveillance. Meanwhile,
Costello’s employers are concerned by his arrest and send a gunman to kill
him. Hounded by both police and professional killers, Jef Costello’s
time is running out.
Review
That Le Samouri should be widely regarded as a classic policier is mainly down
to three ingredients: Delon, Melville and Decae, a recipe that can hardly
fail to please.
Alain Delon is brilliantly cast as the solitary hit-man – implacable, emotionless, yet with a moral irony running through his performance. Few other actors have the charisma and subtlety to play a character that, whilst clearly a villain, conveys moral superiority, with the minimum of dialogue and facial expression. Delon is once again cast as the wild animal, the predator, sure of his territory, resolute in his purpose. It is a performance that is both chilling and sympathetic. Melville’s direction is impressive, confident, albeit slightly over-analytical. He weaves a story that transcends the conventional detective thriller by placing police and contract killers on an equal moral footing. Indeed the police superintendent appears every bit as ruthless and duplicitous as Costello’s employers, and it is Costello himself, the hired killer, who occupies the moral high-ground – a point that is emphasised brilliantly in the film’s conclusion. Perhaps the only fault in the direction is Melville’s over-attention to detail, which causes the plot to stall in a few places. Most impressively of all is Henri Decae’s masterful photography. There is a minimalistic poetry in most scenes, emphasising the darkness of the subject matter without being overwhelmed by it. This is coupled with an all-pervasive sense of mathematical symmetry which seems to reinforce Delon’s cold logical performance as the killer. This is most apparent in the well shot sequences in the French underground, which manage to convey very vividly the impression of the net closing in on Costello. Overall,
this is an impressive piece of French cinema, beautifully shot and with
a memorable performance from Alain Delon.
© James Travers 2000 |
 
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