Jean-Pierre Melville
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| Jean-Pierre Melville | |
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| Born | Jean-Pierre Grumbach 20 October 1917 Paris, France |
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| Died | 2 August 1973 (aged 55) Paris, France |
| Years active | (1945–1972) |
Jean-Pierre Melville (20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker. Born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, he later adopted the pseudonym Melville as a tribute to his favorite American author, Herman Melville.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Paris, France, Melville, who was an Alsatian Jew, served in World War II and fought in Operation Dragoon. When he returned from the war he applied for a license to become an assistant director, but was refused. Without this support, he decided to direct his films by his own means.
He became an independent film-maker, owning his own studios, and became well known for his tragic, minimalist films noirs, such as Le Samouraï (1967) and Le Cercle rouge (1969), starring major, charismatic actors like Alain Delon (probably the definitive 'Melvillian' actor), Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura. His directorial style was influenced by American cinema and fetishized accessories like weapons, clothes and especially hats.
His independence and his 'reporting' style of film-making (he was one of the first French directors to use real locations regularly) were a major influence on the French New Wave film movement, and he appears as a minor character in Jean-Luc Godard's seminal New Wave film Breathless.
Melville died from a heart attack at the age of 55. He remains an important influence for directors like John Woo, Ringo Lam, Quentin Tarantino, and Jim Jarmusch.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] As director
| Year | Title | English title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Vingt-quatre heures de la vie d'un clown | Twenty-four hours in the life of a clown | Short film |
| 1949 | Le Silence de la mer | The Silence of the Sea | |
| 1950 | Les Enfants terribles | The Terrible Children | |
| 1953 | Quand tu liras cette lettre | When You Read This Letter | |
| 1955 | Bob le flambeur | Bob the Gambler | |
| 1959 | Deux hommes dans Manhattan | Two Men in Manhattan | |
| 1961 | Léon Morin, prêtre | Leon Morin, Priest | |
| 1962 | Le Doulos | Doulos: The Finger Man | |
| 1963 | L’Aîné des Ferchaux | Magnet of Doom | |
| 1966 | Le Deuxième Souffle | Second Breath | |
| 1967 | Le Samouraï | The Samourai | |
| 1969 | L' Armée des ombres | Army of Shadows | |
| 1970 | Le Cercle rouge | The Red Circle | |
| 1972 | Un flic | Dirty Money |
[edit] As actor
| Year | Title | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Orpheus | Hotel Director | Jean Cocteau |
| 1956 | Bob le flambeur | Narrator | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| 1957 | Un amour de poche | Le commissaire | Pierre Kast |
| 1959 | Deux hommes dans Manhattan | Moreau | Jean-Pierre Melville |
| 1960 | À bout de souffle | Parvulesco | Jean-Luc Godard |
| 1963 | Landru | Georges Mandel | Claude Chabrol |
[edit] Further reading
- Ginette Vincendeau Jean-Pierre Melville - An American in Paris, 2003, BFI Publishing, ISBN 0-85170-949-4
[edit] External links
- Jean-Pierre Melville at the Internet Movie Database
- Bibliography of books and articles about Melville via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- Jean-Pierre Melville World Socialist Web Site
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