LE SAMOURAI

This is a truly remarkable film, which makes one almost sympathetic to the cold, callous, feelingless Alain Delon, whose task is to murder for money. It is the true film noir, in which we watch in helpless fascination whilst the unsmiling and fastidious assassin kills on demand, to return to his soulless, undecorated apartment with its lonely budgerigar and endless supply of bottled water. The film is all atmosphere, and yet the detail is gripping and the characterisation superb: the chief of police who is determined to track down his elusive suspect is a work of art in himself! Watch it, enjoy it, and don't worry about the message: this is not really the code of the samurai brought to life, but a French improvement on the Hoillywood gangster movie, by a master of his art - who renamed himself after Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick! What more could one ask? Well done, the French. Your artless samourai critic adjusts his fedora, informs Mademoiselle Natalie Delon that he no longer needs her, and goes out in search of his destiny, armed only with a huge collection of skeleton keys and an encyclopeodiac knowledge of the metro...

Met Alain Delon François Périer Nathalie Delon - film - Parution : 20/11/2001