| Plot: | The duplicitous Silien, underworld criminal and police informer, and Serge Reggiani, dogged villain Faugel, inhabit this twilit world of ambiguity and betrayal, in which "all characters are two-faced, all characters are false".
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| Overview: | Based on a novel from the famous "serie noire" crime series, "Le Doulos" inaugurates the great run of gangster films that were to make Melville the master of the genre.
Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as the duplicitous Silien, underworld criminal and police informer, and Serge Reggiani as the dogged villain Faugel, Melville creates a twilit world of ambiguity and betrayal, in which "all characters are two-faced, all characters are false".
This was also the film he called "my first real 'policier'", and already the characteristic elements of the French "noir" are in place; the bleak, downbeat atmosphere; laconic dialogue; perennial themes of male friendship, loyalty, betrayal; and always a sense of impending tragedy.
"Le Doulos" pays tribute to the American gangster films of the 1940s whilst retaining a uniquely French perspective. Where the Hollywood noir strives for clarity and simplification, Melville's films--and "Le Doulos" in particular--retain their ambiguity, leading to a major "coup de theatre" at the film's finale.
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