At 7:07 in the afternoon, a professional killer began to act.
He went to a mechanic to change the fake license plate, and after taking the murder weapon, he arrived at the house of his girlfriend Jane at 7:15. Strictly speaking, Jane is not a girlfriend, she is raised by a rich man.
Jef knew this. It's just that he is carrying the identity of a killer, he can't really be with Jane.
The story of "Lone Killer" begins immediately.
A full 10 minutes later did the first line appear in the movie.
"Jef?" Jane thought he was coming.
"It's 7:15, I'll wait until two in the morning before leaving." Jef sat down and said coldly.
Jane refused, because her lover was coming at two points. Jef had no choice but to say, leaving at 1:45.
Before that, the director used only camera narrative, using a cold room, a bird in a cage, smoke, a bowler hat, and a trench coat to outline the image of a taciturn lone traveler. It can be seen from the plot of the pistol purchase that he is already an "veteran".
Sometimes the simpler things are more difficult. The director must explain things clearly without lines. The actors only rely on expressions and actions to shape the character's traits. It may be a mess, and it will become a classic.
The opening scene of "Lone Killer" in 1967 is recognized as a classic in film history.
Alan Delon, who played the role of the killer Jef, was the movie superstar at that time and the legendary "Zorro" hero. He fully released his masculine charm, and his strength defines a word-"cool".
It was so cool and earth-shattering.
His assassin image can be regarded as a "combination" of the classic assassin characters in later generations.
The loneliness of Léon with "This Killer Is Not So Cold" ;
"Blood Two Heroes" Xiao Zhuang's windbreaker style, and the character of chivalrous tenderness;
"Old Nowhere" Anton Chigurh's blurred eyes and keen insight.
The originator of the ruthless killer, please look for Alan Delon.
Alain Delon has repeatedly pointed out the importance of directors to movies. His success cannot be separated from the support of many big directors. Jean-Pierre Melville is one of them.
If Alain Delon gave the movie an elegant shell, then Melville gave the movie an interesting soul.
In the previous "Lone Killer" , Melville has filmed similar detectives and crimes, gangsters and killers such as "Eyeliner" and "Second Breath" . He is good at this type and can use very simple and powerful individuals. Style to interpret the struggle between good and evil.
Whether it is lines, styles, or action scenes, the design is very minimalist. There is hardly any situation in which the "villain dies because of a lot of talk". In layman's terms, it means that if you don't agree with each other, you will do it.
Major directors including Quentin, Michael Mann, Wu Yusen, Du Qifeng and other big directors are all hard-core fans of Melville. Relating to these names, a familiar movie term emerges in this way-the aesthetics of violence.
"Aesthetics of violence" is probably the earliest version of the 1980s. Wu Yusen, Quentin, and Takashi Miike are considered to be the most representative figures. Then who did most of their movies learn from?
Jean-Pierre Melville.
The traces of Wu Yusen's imitation are particularly obvious. In " The True Colors of Heroes" , Chow Yun-fat plays Xiao Ma standing on the street wearing a trench coat, just like Alan Delon’s Jef.
"Blood Two Heroes" is a "bad imitation" of "Lone Killer ".
The look of the killer Xiaozhuang reproduced Jef's trench coat, only with a change of color;
Singer Jennie is a combination of Jane and female pianist, appearing as a confidant of the male protagonist;
The plot also shows that the killer organization wants to kill the protagonist assassin, but Wu Yusen adds a police protagonist;
The ending also ends with killing the gangster, but "Lone Killer" is more black and profound.
It can be said that the aesthetics of violence, the character setting of the lone killer, and the black crime all originated from Melville and from "The Lone Killer" .
It all started with a murder case. Jef went to the female friend Jane and the chess room to make an alibi, and then went to a bar club to kill the boss there to complete the task.
But the police in Paris are not vegetarian. They quickly caught Jef in the chess room.
Of course Jef is only one of 400 suspects who were caught randomly, and the police didn't know that he was the real murderer.
Since Jef had a perfect alibi, witnesses could not 100% confirm that he was the suspicious man at the scene of the crime. Even if the police were suspicious, they couldn't help him.
But this does not mean that Jef is out of danger and is listed as the number one suspect by the police. The employer behind the scenes feels unsure, and wants the killer organization to kill him to avoid future troubles.
It's all right now, both black and white are both looking for trouble with Jef.
Another potential "threat" is that the black female pianist clearly saw her appearance. Why did she "amnesia" later? Is it really misleading, or is there another secret?
When all the suspense was gradually revealed, Jef realized that he had already embarked on a path that could not be turned back.
Melville gave the film's theme- loneliness in the opening subtitles .
"The samurai can endure the most unbearable loneliness in the world, perhaps only the tiger in the forest can compare it."
So how to portray and embody Jef's loneliness is a focus of the film.
Apart from being cool, Alan Delong's performance is all lonely and melancholy. He has never shown a smile on his face, his eyes are confusing, and he can't speak without speaking. It can be seen that his role is a person who likes to be alone and rarely interacts with others.
Even when he reached the female friend's boudoir, he just sat aside calmly without showing any emotion.
In an interview, Alan Delon said that he felt that everyone is lonely to varying degrees. He knows very well that " Lone Killer" is a story about loneliness. He has a certain understanding of loneliness, and with Melville's guidance, it doesn't feel difficult to perform.
With the excellent performance of Alan Delong, Melville also worked hard on the props.
Good props settings can not only make the scene more realistic and credible, but also reveal the role. In "The Seven Deadly Sins" , Morgan Freeman has a metronome at the head of his bed, which can indicate that his character suffers from a certain degree of insomnia.
The key prop to reveal Jef is the bird in the cage. Obviously the bird is a reflection of him. The bird is trapped in the cage, he is trapped in the city, and they all live alone.
By the time "This Killer Is Not So Cold" , the bird becomes a potted plant.
In addition, Melville also used the evaluation of other characters to describe what kind of person Jef is.
The person familiar with Jef said: "He is a lone wolf."
In the plot, the relationship with Jane reflects Jef's "internally hot" side. He maintains a delicate relationship with Jane. It may be that Jane is helpful to his killer career, or he has feelings for Jane, but because of the limitation of his identity, he can only choose to suppress his emotions. As the story progresses, we all know that the actual situation is the latter.
Jef has the warm side of human nature, so he has his own criteria for being a killer. Even if someone sees him assault, he will not kill innocent people indiscriminately, and the consequences will all be borne by him.
And the long-term killer life has brought him tremendous pressure. It is possible that without knowing it, he has already lost his direction in life, and even has a certain tendency to depression.
In the face of the police chasing after him, the employer wanted to kill himself, so he could only carry everything alone and silently as usual.
Finally, he made a choice towards eternal loneliness.
Nobody’s understanding is needed, just asking for a clear conscience.
Be immortal, then die.
-Jean-Pierre Melville
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