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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