Le Samouraï

Infobox Film | name =Le Samouraï


caption =
director = Jean-Pierre Melville
producer = Raymond Borderie
Eugène Lépicier
writer = Joan McLeod novel The Ronin (uncredited)
Jean-Pierre Melville
Georges Pellegrin
starring =Alain Delon
François Périer
cinematography = Henri Decaë
music =
editing =
distributor =
released = October 25, 1967 U.S. release
runtime = 105 min
language = French
budget =
amg_id = 1:20089
imdb_id = 0062229

"Le Samouraï" (English title "The Samurai") is a 1967 French minimalist crime drama/thriller film directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville. The film's protagonist Jef Costello is played by Alain Delon.

Plot

The story follows a perfectionist free-agent hitman, Costello, who religiously adheres to a strict code of duty. He lives in a [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spartan spartan] apartment whose interior contains a neatly arranged line of mineral water bottles, cigarettes on a bookcase, as well as a little bird in a grey cage in the middle of the room. He is taciturn and goes about his tasks like clockwork. The film opens with a fairly long take of the protagonist lying awake on his bed, smoking, when the following text appears on-screen, attributed to an ancient samurai writing (but purely fiction written by Melville) entitled "The Book of Bushido":

"There is no solitude greater than the samurai's, unless perhaps it be that of a tiger in the jungle."

Costello has no criminal record due to his methodical way of working, which includes constructing elaborate alibis with his girlfriend Jane (played by Nathalie Delon). He is hired to kill Martey, a nightclub owner. Despite his meticulous attention to detail, Costello leaves the scene of the crime with several people seeing him, including the club's beautiful piano player Valérie (Caty Rosier). Although the police Superintendent (François Périer) believes Costello is the killer, the evidence against him is insufficient. Costello soon finds himself in a difficult position, being pursued by both the police and his employers. He also begins to fall for Valérie who intentionally did not give him away in a police line-up of suspects.

After being released from the police line-up, Costello loses a police tail and gets to a meeting point on a subway overpass. He walks up to a man who is one of his employers. Instead of paying Costello, the man shoots him in the arm and runs away. Costello returns home to take care of his wound before falling asleep. When he wakes up the same evening, he returns to the nightclub, prompting the barkeeper (Robert Favart) to confront him, saying, "If you were the man the police are looking for, one could say that the murderer always returns to the scene of the crime." Costello soon meets the piano player and they develop a slight relationship. In the meantime, men from the police department bug his room. During this scene a bird in a cage is agitated and flits about the cage due to the intrusion. Upon returning, Costello notices that the birdcage has loose feathers scattered around but the bird was serene with his presence. Suspecting that his room had been intruded, Costello searches his room for the bug, finds it, and turns it off.

In the meantime, police ransack Jane's apartment, turning her dressers inside-out, hoping to break her will and force her to testify. The Superintendent tries to make a deal with Jane. He tells her that if she admits to have collaborated in fabricating Jef's alibi, she would find no trouble with the police. Jane responds, "So you mean to say that if I perjure myself I will not find trouble with you. If I insist on telling the truth, then I can expect trouble. Am I right?" and shows the police officers the door.

Costello leaves his apartment to call Valérie from a phone booth, she doesn't answer the phone. Back home Costello notices yet again that his bird behaves strangely. While trying to figure out what could be the problem he finds himself held at gunpoint by the man who shot him before. Only this time to give him money and offer him a new job. Costello thinks it's a trap. He overpowers the man and ties him up, extracting information about the man's boss (the one who wanted to hire Costello for the new job) in the process. The boss is a man by the name of Olivier Rey (Jean-Pierre Posier).

Following a chase scene at the Métro, Costello soon realizes that he is in a position in which he cannot win. He visits Jane and tells her that he will take care of everything. After that he goes to Rey's home, which, as Costello finds out, is the same house in which the piano player lives. Costello shoots and kills Rey and goes to Martey's nightlub.

Whereas previously Costello had tried to be discreet and unseen by the nightclub goers, this time he comes in full view. He checks-in his hat, but does not take the coupon the young woman gives him. He walks over to the bar, where he puts on his white gloves, again in full view of everyone at the night club, especially the barkeeper. Costello walks toward Valérie, pulls his gun out and points it at her. She warns him not to stay, and after seeing the weapon, she simply asks "Why, Jef?" To which he replies, "I was paid to." After a moment of staring, we hear gunshots, but not from Jef's gun. Costello falls to the ground and dies. A junior police officer tells Valérie she is lucky they (the police) were there -- otherwise, Costello would have killed her. The Superintendent picks up Jef's gun and opens it for all (the police, Valérie, and the audience) to see. There were no bullets in the gun.

The reason "Le Samouraï" is regarded as one of the best and most influential thrillers is the film direction. Melville creates this film as a spotless Neo-noir. Every scene appears to be well-planned and well-paced. The film's fame also comes from the fact that for a crime thriller only three or so scenes contain gunfire. However, Melville ably sustains the suspense throughout the film, supported by a haunting jazzy score and an excellent performance from Alain Delon as the laconic Costello. Although the plot is fairly simple, the film's finale sparked endless discussion on its depth and meaning.

Alternate ending

In an interview with Rui Nogueira, Melville indicated that he had shot an alternate version of Jef's death scene. In the alternate ending, which is actually the original version as Melville had written in the script, Costello met his death with a picture-perfect grin à la Delon. The scene was changed to its current form when Melville angrily discovered that Delon had already used a smiling death scene in another of his films. Stills of the smiling death exist.

Interpretations

This can be understood as Jef's decision to commit suicide by coming unarmed and unprotected in a place where he knew the police would be able to kill him. Having been paid to kill the piano player, he could not find it in himself to do it, and thus failed in his mission. However, by carrying out the assassination up to the point of the actual killing, Jef is proving to the other players that he could have, if he so wished, completed his mission. This act preserves both his pride and his honor.

Influences

Hong Kong director John Woo's 1989 film, "The Killer", was heavily influenced by "Le Samouraï"'s plot, the bar's female pianist being replaced by a singer. Chow Yun-Fat's character Jeffrey Chow (international character name for Ah Jong) was obviously inspired by Alain Delon's Jef. The inspiration, or homage, is confirmed by the similarity in the character names. Woo acknowledged his influences by writing a short essay on "Le Samouraï" and Melville's techniques for the films Criterion Collection DVD release [ [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=306 The Criterion Collection: Le samourai by Jean-Pierre Melville ] ]

Walter Hill's existential thriller "The Driver", starring Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, and Isabelle Adjani, is also believed to have been influenced by "Le Samouraï".

Jim Jarmusch paid homage to "Le Samouraï" with the 1999 crime-drama, "", starring Forest Whitaker as a meditative, loner assassin who lives by the bushido code. In the same manner that Jef Costello has a huge ring of keys that enables him to steal any Citroën DS, the hit man Ghost Dog has an electronic "key" to break into luxury cars. [Hoberman, J. March 1-7, 2000. [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0009,hoberman2,12881,20.html "Into the Void"] . "Village Voice" (retrieved October 14, 2006)] [Thorsen, Tor, Reel.com. [http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=129128&buy=open&Tab=reviews&CID=13#tabs "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai"] (DVD review, retrieved October 14, 2006)]

Hong Kong director Pang Ho-Cheung's 2001 crime-and-filmmaking comedy "You Shoot, I Shoot" features Eric Kot as a hitman who idolizes Alain Delon's Jef, dressing like the character, and speaking to him via a "Le Samouraï" poster in his apartment.

References

Further reading

Books
* Nogueira, Rui (ed.). 1971. "Melville on Melville". New York: Viking Press. : ISBN 67046757X (hardbound), 670019267 (paperbound)
* Vincendeau, Ginette. 2003. "Jean-Pierre Melville : 'an American in Paris"'. London: British Film Institute.: ISBN 0851709508 (hardbound), 0851709494 (paperback)

External links

*imdb title|id=0062229|title=Le Samouraï
*" [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/le_samourai/ Le Samouraï] " at Rotten Tomatoes
* [http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=306&eid=441&section=essay Criterion Collection essay by David Thomson]