Part of the 2023 French Film Series:
Le Cercle Rouge
(Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970, 140 min, France, French with English subtitles, DCP)
— Introduced by Ciro Incoronato (Romance Studies). Q&A to follow screening.
Alain Delon plays a master thief, fresh out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volontè) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist, against impossible odds, until a relentless inspector and their own pasts seal their fates. With its honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces, Le Cercle Rouge is the quintessential film by Jean-Pierre Melville—the master of ambiguous, introspective crime cinema.
“An existentialist noir painted with the cold hues of grey, blue and green where the only warm touch is the red of blood, of death. Dialogues are reduced to a minimum as Melville displays his iconographic mastery throughout having condensed noir into an immanent palette where images are more expressive words.” – MUBI
“Watching Le Cercle Rouge, you feel an excitement at Melville’s mastery of form, at the sense of someone working at the height of his powers.” – LA Weekly
“Grimly elegant … Melville films this suspenseful and violent story with tight-lipped precision—he’s fascinated by the balletic grace of these life-and-death combatants, and by the depth of hard-won knowledge on which their deadly power depends.” – Richard Brody
Screen/Society screenings are free and open to the public. (COVID-19 Info)
