Jean-Pierre Melville

 Jean-Pierre Melville



Le Silence de la Mer (1949)

Les Enfants Terribles (1950)

Bob le Flambeur (1956)

Leon Morin, Priest (1961)




RANKED:

4. Les Enfants Terribles (1950)


After the rousing success of 1949's "La Silence de la Mer," Jean Pierre-Melville was commissioned by famed French poet, playwright, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau to adapt his 1929 novel, "Les Enfants Terrible." The result is a strange concoction that blends Melville's unique and innovative camerawork with Cocteau's classic bizarre stories. The film acts as almost a spiritual sequel to Cocteau's 1948 stage-to-film adaptation of "Les Parents Terribles."



3. Bob le Flambeur (1956)


Although it would not be categorized into the French New Wave movement, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1956 pulpy crime film "Bob le Flambeur" has foundational elements of the movement that many of its most prominent artists were influenced by. Along with cinematographer Henri Decae, Melville utilized handheld camera and jump cuts for certain scenes that really bolstered an artistic flourish within the film. So much so that Francois Truffaut enlisted Decae to shoot his French New Wave monolith "The 400 Blows" only 3 years later. Although it is not a 'New Wave' film in the slightest, "Bob le Flambeur" was certainly pointing in the direction that French cinema was ultimately headed towards.



2. Leon Morin, Priest (1961)


When one thinks about French films that centers on priests, Robert Bresson's "A Diary of a Country Priest" may immediately come to mind. However, Jean-Pierre Melville's 1961 film "Leon Morin, Priest" is a dramatically different film, and even has opposing thematic points to Bresson's masterpiece. "Leon Morin, Priest" centers on a widowed single mother during the Nazi occupation of France, as she desperately searches for meaning and purpose. Through this search, local priest Leon fervently aides her in this journey. His good faith, moral fortitude, and selflessness demand a certain internal search for these values within ourselves. "Leon Morin, Priest," while opposes Bresson's bleak outlook on the human soul and instead posits that spiritual truth and moral clarity are attainable through a rigorous determination. 




1. Le Silence de la Mer (1949)


Before his debut feature film, 1949's "Le Silence de la Mer," was released, Jean-Pierre Melville had no prior filmmaking experience. His only experience was his obsession and study of film itself. So, how was he able to get this film about the soul of a disillusioned Nazi made? Basing his script off of the 1942 novel of the same name, Melville was able to get cheap, bare essentials that he required, along with filming on location in the original author's house, and used a sparse cast. The result is a minimalist story about a retired Frenchman and his adult niece who resist the Nazi that is billeted in their house by offering him complete silence. As the story unfolds, we see the abstraction that is the relationship between the resisting French civilians and the Nazis who are occupying them. Melville employs such creative and unique ways to visualize this story. With the minimalism he employs, he is somehow able to create an abstract and existential tone. 

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