Le Deuxième Souffle [Second Breath] ***** (1966, Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse) – Classic Movie Review 3,800

Jean-Pierre Melville’s exhilarating 1966 heist gangster thriller Le Deuxième Souffle [Second Breath] is another of his hugely impressive films about the treacherous camaraderie of the criminal underworld.

French director Jean-Pierre Melville’s exhilarating 1966 heist gangster thriller Le Deuxième Souffle [Second Breath] is another of his hugely impressive films about the treacherous camaraderie of the criminal underworld. It relishes male friendships and the power and nobility of the individual, and champions the underworld against the police, with the best gangsters having honour, despite being ready to rob and kill (and be killed), and the best police not so much, some of them being ready to trick and torture their prisoners. There is not much joy in the world but there is some honour among thieves, but little among the officers of the law.

Lino Ventura is perfectly cast as Gu [Gustave Minda], the dangerous, world-weary gangster who escapes from prison, goes to Paris to join his crime buddies, and undertakes one last job in the French countryside. Paul Meurisse is nearly as effective as the devious, dogged cop, Inspector [Commissaire] Blot, who sets out to corner him, while Raymond Pellegrin as Paul Ricci, Christine Fabréga as Manouche, Michel Constantin as her faithful bodyguard Alban, and Pierre Zimmer as the sinister Orloff all make an extremely strong, indelible impression.

Ventura is tremendous, subtle, simple, straightforward and completely convincing. Meurisse is nice and slimy, and Constantin does faithful well, not a specially easy task. Fabréga does a great job in being so memorable in this man’s world, an appealing mix of diamond hard and chocolate soft centre, a portrait in damaged disappointment.

Inspector Blot is investigating a shooting plotted by the mobster/ club owner Jo Ricci (Marcel Bozzuffi), in which the gangster Jacques the Lawyer (Raymond Loyer) is shot dead by gunmen. Also in Paris, Gu meets his lover Manouche (Christine Fabréga) and her bodyguard Alban (Michel Constantin), who take him to a hideout and plot to smuggle him to Italy via Marseille.

But his old associate Orloff (Pierre Zimmer) sends Gu to Jo Ricci’s brother Paul (Raymond Pellegrin), who is planning to hold up a security van full of platinum bars with two other hoods, gangsters Antoine (Denis Manuel) and Pascal (Pierre Grasset), near Marseille. It is escorted by two armed policeman, one killed by Gu kills, the other by Antoine, and the gang make off with the platinum bars. Inspector Fardiano (Paul Frankeur) heads the investigation, but Inspector Blot is still on Gu’s trail.

Melville’s love of American crime movies is especially evident in the laconic dialogue and the meticulous robbery sequence in this long (150 minutes), richly detailed, atmospheric and totally engrossing epic based on the novel Un Reglement de Comptes by José Giovanni. Melville writes the screenplay, both adaptation and dialogue, along with Giovanni for the dialogue.

There are also further treats – a jazz-infused score by Bernard Gérard and Marcel Combes’s eye-catching cinematography – to enjoy and admire too. Admirable though they are they do not take over from the main event, the story. Melville’s film is brilliantly stylish but it has real substance. When you say heist movie you think of a caper film like Ocean’s Eleven. Even if Melville relishes his robbery sequence, Le Deuxième Souffle could hardly be different.

French writer Corsican origin José Giovanni (22 June 1923 – 24 April 2004) was the pseudonym of Joseph Damiani, a former collaborationist and criminal who at one time was sentenced to death. He drew inspiration from personal experience or from real gangsters, such as Abel Danos in his 1960 film Classe tous risques, which also stars Ventura.

Mel Ferrer was supposed to play Orloff but he quit after falling out with Melville early in the shoot and was replaced by Pierre Zimmer.

Also in the cast are Christine Fabréga, Marcel Bozzuffi, Raymond Pellegrin, Michel Constantin, Paul Frankeur, Denis Manuel, Jean Négroni and Pierre Grasset.

The cut theatrical version runs 117 minutes.

Le Deuxième Souffle was released in Paris on 2 November 1966. It was Melville’s highest-grossing film in France at the time and his fourth-highest-grossing film overall.

A new version of Le Deuxième Souffle was directed by Alain Corneau in 2007, starring Daniel Auteuil, Michel Blanc and Jacques Dutronc.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,800

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com