Keywords: jean-pierre melville, le samouraï, nouvelle vague, french cinema, french new wave, alain delon, paris

‘There is no greater solitude than the Samurai’s, unless it be that of the tiger in the jungle.’

So reads a title-card from the credit sequence of Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï (1967), one of the great films of the Nouvelle Vague in French cinema. This quotation purports to be from the Japanese Book of Bushido, but was actually written by Melville himself. The quote has a dual purpose. Firstly, it likens the film’s hero Jeff Costello – a hired killer – to the ancient Japanese warriors. Secondly, it is a clear metaphor for Jeff’s relationship to his environment: he is the tiger, Paris the jungle. This metaphor is only one aspect of the film’s representation of Paris, itself only one of a number of

In Le Samouraï, the opening ‘quotation’ testifies to its hero’s profound isolation, while the visual image reinforces this: Jeff’s flat is a veritable prison of solitude. The focus of the room is the far wall with its two, seemingly barred, windows. A birdcage is visible, indicating a carceral space. The cinematography and dim lighting invest the flat with a monochromatic gloom; a stark greyness which even applies to the bird, chosen for its black and white feathers. The sound also contains a note of solitude. During the initial shot (over which the credits appear) there is a prolonged silence. This is emphasised, rather than undermined, by the bird’s infrequent chirping and the distant sounds of traffic. The cars passing below are something external and alien. They signify that the city exists beyond Jeff’s world and is completely indifferent to him. The effect is one of a cell, suggesting that Jeff’s solitude is so great that it has acquired the dimensions and tangibility of a prison.

A favoured device in New Wave cinema is the portrayal of Paris as a space of anonymity. The characters, marginalized by society and greeted with indifference, acquire an anonymity that allows them a certain freedom. The notion of anonymity as a protective shell is strong in Le Samouraï, as indicated by Jeff’s nonchalance during the murder, identity parade, and ensuing surveillance. He knows that the city will absorb him into its overwhelming indifference. Observe the casual way he disposes of the incriminating gauze in the streets. He even returns to the scene of the crime the next day. The efforts of the police force are an attempt to wrest Jeff from his protective anonymity: in the identity parade he is lined up with several others wearing similar trench coats and fedoras. As witnesses try to identify him among these identical figures they are really trying to extract him from the anonymous masses of Paris.

The labyrinth metaphor is another of the consistent themes in the New Wave vision of Paris. Generally, it portrays Paris and ultimately modernity as a hostile, maze-like environment that threatens its inhabitants. Le Samouraï evokes a film noir-influenced, labyrinthine city. When Jeff leaves his flat a heavy deluge renders the streets of Paris as slick as any noir city. In later scenes, foreboding shadows and chiaroscuro invest interiors with the fatalistic, restless mood that is the essence of film noir. Even Alain Delon’s costume resurrects the persona of Humphrey Bogart, while the card game is a stereotypical film noir scenario.

Jeff’s excursion into the nightclub to find his target resembles very closely the trap into which Michel Poiccard walks in A bout de souffle. Jeff is also caught in the labyrinth of Paris. But Jeff’s trap introduces a new dimension to this theme. He has to descend into the nightclub’s basement: Le Samouraï extends the labyrinth metaphor by reconstructing Paris as an underworld that one must descend into before engaging with it. The cinematography gives Paris a murky, dank and melancholy look, appropriate to the underworld theme. Paris abounds with metallic, steely-blue colours and cold greys to such an extent that Tom Milne has written, “Jeff Costello”s Paris [is] a chillingly twilit, blue-grey hell.’

When enacting this retelling of the descent myth, Jeff encounters the pianist. Melville has stated that she personifies Death, it is therefore appropriate that Jeff should become transfixed by her while in this subterranean world – making the underworld theme all the more apprehensible.

The term also implies the notion of a criminal underworld. This is evident in Le Samouraï, as virtually every character is connected in some way with crime. Jeff encounters only criminal or crime-associated figures. Even the police force is tarnished by its existence in the underworld of Paris: those who search Jeff’s apartment behave exactly like criminals, a resemblance emphasised by the method of breaking in that they share with Jeff.

Lastly, the jungle metaphor already commented upon offers some of the most striking effects in Le Samouraï. The characters of the film correspond to the hierarchy of a jungle, including predators (Jeff, Wiener, the assassin), hunters (the Inspector and police), and prey (Jeff’s victim). After he is shot a character refers to Jeff as a wounded wolf, implying that he is now more dangerous. This likening to an animal and the notion that when wounded his ferocity will increase clearly locate the drama in a Darwinian world of survival of the fittest, analogous to a jungle. Jeff does indeed behave like an animal on several occasions, emphasised by Delon’s almost silent performance. When returning to the crime scene he seems to act on instinct rather than reason. In contrast, the Inspector is motivated by reason and emotion, fundamentally human values, and speaks his thoughts aloud. He is presented as the human hunter of Jeff’s animal. Notice the brilliantly orchestrated sequence that cuts between shots of the gangster and Inspector, pacing up and down. They seem to be hunters following Jeff’s tracks. It is also significant that Jeff enjoys his greatest affinity with an animal: there is evidently an understanding between him and the bird. ‘Jeff and the bird love each other,’ said Melville, a statement highlighting Jeff’s possession of animalistic qualities. All of these factors reaffirm the film’s initial assertion that Jeff is a tiger in the vast Parisian jungle.

For a discussion of Francois Truffaut's work, see:

https://knoji.com/fahrenheit-451-a-visual-analysis-of-francois-truffauts-classic-film/