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Le Deuxième Souffle (Second Wind) from 1966, a French film
It might be 1966, but Le Deuxième Souffle is closer to classic film noir than neo noir, with its prison break, hideouts, heist, criminal code of honor, and intrepid detective all riding comfortably in the genre's well-worn grooves.
Director Jean-Pierre Melville didn't serve up a tired offering, though; instead, he delivered another engaging take on noir's paradigmatic elements and themes. Shooting in noir's traditional black and white only reinforces his movie's classic feel.
At the opening, Gu – a well-respected underworld figure because he never rats – escapes from prison and returns to Paris to see his sister, Manouche, and his long-time trusted friend, Alban. In true noir fashion, Gu returns on a night when Manouche's restaurant becomes the site of a gangland hit.
At first, it's confusing to keep the competing gangs, the bad guys, and even the cops (who compete for jurisdiction with each other) straight, but it's easy enough to follow at a high level, while taking in the incredible atmosphere and style.
It's all about Gu, played by noted French actor Lino Ventura. His plan – and the movie's main plot – is to pull one last heist so he has money to get out of France and live somewhere without being hunted.
While trying to do this, he's tracked by police commissioner Blot, another example of that wonderful cinematic creation: the French detective who is smart, dedicated, and persistent, almost to the point of obsession, in his pursuit of someone like Gu.
The movie now follows Gu as he joins a heist team, executes the heist, hides the stolen platinum, and hides himself until he can get his share in cash before Manouche and Alban smuggle him out of the country to that perennial noir nirvana: somewhere else.
This is all old hat for the genre, but Melville makes it gripping by creating an engaging French noir atmosphere: a world of gangster honor codes and compelling characters in Gu, Blot, Manouche, Alban, and a few others.
Gu is not a good man by any normal standard. He is a crook who kills cops and others to get what he wants, but he is also a man who lives by an honor code in his world, which allows us to respect him knowing it's all a cinematic creation. We want the Gus in real life put in jail.
Blot is interesting on screen, but he violates so many legal rights of suspects that, in real life, we want the Blots of the world in jail, too: There's no justice if cops can ignore the law. Alban and Manouche are also people we enjoy on screen, but know in real life they belong in jail.
Like the characters, Melville's world is wonderfully noir, wonderfully artificial, and wonderfully engaging. His crooks have all these "rules" they live by, even dispensing "justice" in their own way. This is the crazy parallel criminal world that made The Godfather so compelling.
Despite being 1966, Melville's style is classic noir with his signature stamp. Shot in black and white, gangsters dress in dark suits and ties, cops in somewhat less drab suits and ties, and almost everyone wears a hat. Visually, it's still the 1940s in Le Deuxième Souffle.
Melville weaves the mundane into his story without making it boring. While hiding from the police, Gu, trying to do a lot in a short time, somewhat disguises himself and rides so many public buses it’s practically an advertisement for France’s transit system.
The action is here too, though – sniper shots taking out motorcycle cops, a few gun battles in small rooms, more than one rubout, and several chases – but Melville goes out of his way to remind viewers that even criminals have plenty of mundane downtime.
The climax is less about legal right and wrong and more about an unwritten code of honor not only between the crooks, but between the cops and the crooks when it's a crook "with integrity" like Gu. Look for Blot's final gesture of respect to Gu - it's subtle but beautifully done.
Le Deuxième Souffle is a classic noir released years after classic noirs had all but stopped being made. In Melville's noirish world, crooks live in an alternate universe that happens to intersect with the law-abiding world only when the crooks need something from it.
Otherwise, his characters go about their insane lives – running corrupt businesses, fighting and killing mainly each other, and playing an endless game of cat and mouse with the police – almost removed from real planet earth.
It's this "alternative universe" that makes Melville's noir so visually and emotionally appealing. It allows the viewer to have a sort of corrupt mental rumspringa from the safety of his living room. Life here is cool – even honorable in its warped way – and not hemmed in by law or convention.
Few would want to live in that world, but fantasizing about it is undeniably fun. Film noir, considered a darkish hellscape – as it often is – is made into an oddly set-apart and engaging universe in Melville's interpretation of the classic genre.
Le Deuxième Souffle is a classic film noir with a French twist. It’s a strong film with a compelling plot, but its special ingredients are its noir themes, characters, and style, which – crafted for cinematic effect rather than to reflect reality – have secured its place as a hallmark of French noir.
