The title comes from the beginning of Bob the Gambler. The narrator says: "You'll hear this here in Montmartre: the story takes place at the junction of night and day. In the morning light at dawn, Montmartre is both heaven...and hell." "Ambiguous" and "Dawn" "It's the best way to sum up the time and space of Melville's films: the stories mostly take place at an ambiguous time like dawn, when the streets are empty, and there is only one person wearing a turtleneck trench coat, walking alone and walking in a hurry. Such an "unknown" is also a coordinate in the connotation of the story: not only the characters cannot be classified according to tradition, but their behaviors are also difficult to judge. What can be confirmed is only their relative positions and the end of the play that has already been written. Melville came from a Hungarian Jewish family and was born in Paris, France in 1917. He had participated in the Resistance Movement and the Spanish Democratic Liberation Movement, and served in the army for eight years during World War II. He is regarded as an indirect pioneer of the New Wave movement, known as the "father of French New Wave cinema", although he does not want to admit it. The directors who have been influenced by him, generations before and after, straddle east and west: from Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, to Martin Scorsese, to Quentin Tarendino, And to John Woo and Johnnie To. He created a total of 13 feature films in his lifetime. This article mainly talks about the film noir in which it is the majority. The war film "Shadow Army" is also included in it because of its similarity in style. In addition, Melville's "Silence of the Sea", "The Terrible Child" and "Father Leon Mohan" with the theme of philosophical speculation are not involved.
1. Melville's themes and roles Melville is a great admirer of American culture, and he candidly expresses his love for the American film industry and movies. He admits that there are two American noir films that have influenced him the most: "The Night Is Still" and "The Punisher". Also because of his fascination with the United States, he went straight to New York to film "Manhattan Duo". But what Melville did was not a blind imitation of American noir, but a French localization and personal stylization. His own contributions have also made him a typical representative in the field of genre localization and personal stylization. 1. Themes One of Melville 's themes is the eternal loneliness of the individual. At the end of his tragic story, it also finally points to eternal loneliness. Going back to the time and space definition of Melville's film that we mentioned at the beginning of "Ambiguous Dawn", such an atmosphere is essential to express the theme. From the shuttle between the casino and home in the early hours of "Gambler Bob", to the fast walking in a white trench coat in "Lone Killer", to the echoing footsteps on the barren and damp road in "Shadow Army", and An isolated escape in a dark, snowy street in winter. Such a kind of loneliness is more social, which echoes another theme—fatalism. Most of Melville's images are wandering on the fringes of society and out of tune with the social system. They are gloomy and melancholy, and their words are like gold. He idealized, heroized, and chivalrous of killers, thieves and their crimes, and elevated them into resistance to power and shackles and proof of their own existence. This also makes their criminal behavior stripped of the color of sin and the vision of moral judgment, and becomes a ritual. Although it ends in vain - they are doomed to fall prey to the rules of society. 2. Characters (Protagonist, Policeman, Woman) Protagonist In addition to the above-mentioned protagonist who is closely related to the theme, Melville also shows a good use of stars. The image of a movie star is often the result of the combination of its personality and the role it plays. At the moment of appearance, a three-dimensional character can be established and recognized by the audience. For example, Alain Delon, the male protagonist of "The Lone Killer" and "The Red Circle", is elegant and reticent, combined with simple pictures and cool-toned photography, vividly depicting a loner walking on the social boundary. And Jean-Paul Belmondo, who starred in "Eyeliner", also created a very personal and cynical but very loyal character image. In addition, Melville's film dialogue is concise, so as to seek a deeper performance of the actors, which further helps to show the charm of the stars. This kind is completely different from the confused, weak, or trapped in conspiracy, or indulge in the beauty of protagonists in American noir films. Policemen In American noir films, the role of the police is often absent. But the cops in Melville's films are strong characters. The emergence of the police, as a representative of social shackles and constraints, highlights the conflict between secular morality and heroic chivalry, showing the themes of loneliness and fate. At the same time, these police images, like the protagonists, are different from tradition, contradictory, or, as we said before, "ambiguous". They are often more insidious and cunning than criminals, unscrupulous for their ends, but still out of justice. For example, the police officer in "Lone Killer" tried to deceive and threaten Jeff's girlfriend to get clues; the police officer Blott in "Second Breath" set up a scam to get testimony; the old sheriff in "Red Circle" Matthew, by arresting the eldest's son, forcing the eldest to cooperate, and even nearly causing the eldest's son to commit suicide; the police officer played by Alain Delon in "The Great Dawn" obtains detection information through an undercover female inside the criminal organization. After the arrest failed, he beat the female undercover in anger. The cops in Melville's films are not just the protagonists' wrestlers, but sometimes their echoes. The most successful portrayal of the old sheriff in "Red Circle": Melville used two scenes to shoot the old sheriff and feed three big fat cats after returning to the apartment, which is similar to the relationship between Jeff and the bird in "Lone Killer"; In life, he faces the same pressures as Jeff from multiple sources, confronting challenges from criminals and scrutiny from the police interior minister who believes that "everyone is guilty". The most obvious is the sheriff in "Great Dawn," played by Alain Delon, who has been playing a criminal before, and suddenly such a cross-section undoubtedly shows Melville's attempt to mix the two types of images. The cops and criminals in Melville's mirror sometimes even develop friendships and sympathy for each other. In "Bob the Gambler", the sheriff publicly expressed his friendship with Bob; and in "Second Breath", after the death of the hero, the policeman Blott deliberately left the notebook recording the scam to reporters to serve as the hero. Restoring reputation. Melville denies putting the police in a critical position, instead taking a sideline and detached angle. Rather, what he is doing here is to hand over the right to judge to the audience: which is more sinful to do what is righteously immoral, or to do what is immorally ethically? woman The portrayal of women in Melville's films is also very different from American noir. Most of the female characters in American noir films are in a strong position, and they play the men in the applause through beauty and tricks, which is what we often call the femme fatale. The female characters in Melville's films are absolutely subordinate, even negligible. At times, they are portrayed as the hero's brave and loyal companions. Like Jeff's girlfriend Jane in "Lone Killer" or Manush in "Second Breath." They are often the last concern of the hero before he dies. In "Lone Killer", Jeff and Jane hugged tightly before he died. The protagonists of "Second Breath" and "Big Dawn" said their lover's name before death. , and in "Eyeliner", Sirian made the last phone call to his girlfriend before he died. Sometimes, they are accompanied by danger. For example, in "Bob the Gambler", the girl accidentally leaked the robbery plan of Bob and others; the woman beside the boss in "Eyeliner" is an undercover agent who was placed beside him; Catherine Deneuve in "Great Dawn" The songgirl she plays maintains a close relationship with the sheriff and the criminal at the same time; the girlfriend Jane in "The Lone Killer" also makes people worry when facing the coercion and temptation of the police. But this is fundamentally different from the femme fatale in film noir: the women in Melville's films are, after all, vassals of the male world, and they bring danger passively. But it's not because of Melville's prejudice or hostility toward women, but because he doesn't know what to do with female characters. "They were like Martians to him." Here's a special mention of Mathilde in "Shadow Army". Although she is a very important female character in this film, her image is actually more emphasized as "male". The qualities for which she has been praised, such as bravery, decisiveness, and leadership, are more often thought of as masculine traits. And her rare appearance as a woman and mother—a picture of her daughter in her purse—became a handle in the hands of the German army. Mathilde also has a scene in "Shadow Army". When she was thinking about a strategy to rescue Felix, she first tried on a very feminine costume, but she felt awkward, so she changed another set. Such a detail, in addition to emphasizing Mathilde's "maleness", can also be regarded as Melville's expression of his "powerlessness" in the face of female roles.
2. Melville's symbolic style 1. Image style Beginning with Melville's first color film "The Lone Killer", Melville reborn with color pictures and Alain Delon. However, even in color, his pictures are still close to "colorless". Mainly in blue-gray tones, combined with the simple interior scene, it depicts a melancholy and gloomy environment, and has excellent visual artistic effect. The walls of Jeff's apartment in "Lonely Killer" are gray and dark, and the furniture is better than nothing, showing a great sense of loneliness and forming a very charming space. Echoing this is the reduction in dialogue. Jeff almost completely lives in his own world except for the company of birds in "Lone Killer"; the nearly half-hour silent robbery of a jewelry store in "Red Circle" is hearty; the two robbery lines before and after "Big Dawn" are very few. In addition to perpetuating the atmosphere of loneliness and depression, the silence also creates a breathless tension that grabs the audience's nerves and keeps them glued to every move on the screen. 2. Opening subtitle cards The prefaces that appear before the opening of these films are not only the most refined summary of the story, but also the ruthless writing of the hero's tragic fate. Maybe at first, I felt inexplicable about such an "abrupt" remark. However, after watching the whole film, you will find that there are really no words to sum up this movie better than it. As the beginning of "Red Circle" said: "Although people don't know it at first, one day they will meet, even if their life experiences are different, they have taken different paths, and on a certain day, they will eventually be in the red. Meet in the circle." The three of them followed this sentence and were drawn into the red circle of fate. In "The Lone Killer", Melville coined the phrase "Samurai can endure the most unbearable loneliness in the world, perhaps only a tiger in the forest can compare with it", and wrote Jeff's pursuit of death. "Shadow Army" quotes George Kutlin's poem: "I also gladly accept the unhappy memory, because it is my distant youth." It expresses Melville's heartfelt when facing the past. These "eyebrows" also show Melville's narcissism from the side: like a Buddha, he draws the "red circles" of all beings in the movie one by one. 3. "Hat" The characters in Melville's films always wear hats and long trench coats, so that they form an almost symbolic image. And the fixed expectations brought about by this image even surpass the stars themselves. This image has also influenced successors such as John Woo, and the most familiar Pony Ma was born here. Melville has also repeatedly expressed his fascination with small objects full of technology. Not to mention the heavily guarded jewelry stores with various high-tech anti-theft facilities in "Red Circle". The safe and the tool used to open the safe in "Bob the Gambler", the subway map to assist in the roundup in "Lone Killer", and the use of magnets to open the door of the train room in "Great Dawn" also serve to attract audiences. The role of the eye. 4. A little more "hat" Some of the other "hats" in Melville's films play a more important role, directly participating in the narrative. For example, in "Eyeliner" and "Second Breath", the hat rolled off at the end, representing the death of the two. And when Felix is strapped to a Gestapo car in Shadow Troops, his hat falls off and he is left alone in the middle of the road, indicating his isolation and foreshadowing his fate. The animals in Melville's films often allude to the protagonist's situation. The three fat cats in the old sheriff's house in "Red Circle" were a little obscure at first, but after the second shot of the old sheriff feeding the three fat cats, the camera cuts to the trap set by the police station to arrest the three , the implication is obvious. The relationship between Jeff and the caged bird in The Lone Killer is much more obvious: the bird is imprisoned in the cage, which corresponds to Jeff's imprisonment in the social environment. Also with the help of the bird, Jeff discovers the hidden bug and the killer in ambush in the room. Here, the two are more like spiritual companions. What is easily overlooked is the scene in which the hero observes the ants before the robbery begins in Second Breath. From the mediocre ants to the few people waiting for the start of the robbery, it undoubtedly shows the powerlessness and insignificance of this "resistance". In addition, some Melville constantly repeats himself, making some expressions symbolic, and then forming a style. For example, the protagonist arranges his clothes and twists the brim of his hat before departure, which reflects the narcissistic complex of the protagonist, which is inseparable from loneliness. Another example is the look around the room by the hosts before their last departure. Glancing meaningfully, then never coming back. Symbols form style, and style shapes atmosphere. Finally, in such an atmosphere, we complete the memory of each Melville hero.
Finally, a quote from Melville concludes. "People will always think of me as a trailblazer of a new system, a forerunner of the French New Wave movement. I don't admit it. I enjoy being isolated, not connected to any group, religion or morality. I'm cynical, only concerned with and Love the animals around me. I'm not from the traditional film industry, and I'm separated from the film industry. I don't need to abide by all kinds of unspoken items like an insider. humility. At the same time, I have always refused to bow down to those famous people." - Jean-Pierre Melville
References: 1. Toyohiko, on French director Jean-Pierre Melville's author style, 2009 2. Hu Yinsong, French director Jean-Pierre Melville's noir style analysis, 2009 3. Wang Xianghui , Jean-Pierre Melville Film Studies, 2013
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