Noir November: Le deuxième souffle
Written by Cameron Geiser
Every day for the month of November, Cameron Geiser is reviewing a noir film (classic or neo) for Noir November. Today covers another Jean-Pierre Melville film: Le deuxième souffle.
Of all the films I’ve seen from Jean-Pierre Melville at this point, this is one of my absolute favorites. While the cinematography isn’t as showy as previous films, the story and characters are far more engaging and rapturous. The story is mainly focused on recently escaped and infamous Parisian criminal Gustave Minda (Lino Ventura), or “Gu” for short, and the expert Inspector Blot (Paul Meurisse) who relentlessly pursues him. Now, the plot and story at hand may seem familiar, but it is Melville’s stage direction, camera framing, and restrained performances that he pulls from his actors that make this Noir film stand out from the crowd.
So after Gustave breaks out of prison with two others (one unfortunate prisoner missed his jump, the second was eventually chased off a cliff by the police), he heads to Paris to see his loyal sister Simone (Christine Fabréga), who goes by her nickname ‘Manouche’ throughout the film. She and her bodyguard, Alban (Michel Constantin) work various aspects of a bar called “Ricci’s”. Manouche and Alban get caught in the crossfire of an orchestrated attack on the bar before Gustave arrives in Paris, but Alban fends them off from behind the bar while Jacques (Raymond Loyer), Manouche’s admirer, is found to be the only casualty. When Gustave does arrive back in town he takes his sister’s blackmail problems into his own hands. The elder gangster catches two other men sent to Manouche’s house after the attack and kills them with his trademark technique. With the blackmail settled, the three of them, Manouche, Alban, and Gustave plan to smuggle the infamous criminal to Italy by way of Marseille.
Meanwhile, Inspector Blot is all over every possible trace of evidence connected to the infamous Gustave Minda’s recent escape from prison In fact, he’s the first person on the scene of the attack at Ricci’s. Though no one there will give Blot any verifiable accounts of the attack, he knows their game all too well and makes his presence well known. For while the attack didn’t resemble Gustave’s handiwork, Blot knew the old gangster would be heavily invested in the safety of his sister. Blot, for his part, is a damn crafty Inspector and knows all the ins and outs of the criminal underworld. He calculates his risks seriously and his deductive reasoning is unparalleled in the world of this film. To fund the escape to Italy Gustave decides to join up with a crew for a heist with a gigantic payout, much to Manouche’s objection. He finds this opportunity through another old friend of his, Orloff (Pierre Zimmer), who was originally asked to be a part of the heist, but declined due to the risk associated. Gustave finds himself in familiar company with the crew assembled as Paul Ricci (Raymond Pellegrin), the brother of Jo Ricci (Marcel Bozzuffi) who owns the bar “Ricci’s”, is the lead organizer of the operation.
Gustave doesn’t find out until later that it was Jo Ricci who blackmailed Manouche at the beginning of the film, though when he does, he lets Paul know that his brother ‘isn’t on the up and up’ and decides to let it go due to their friendship. The heist is pretty simple as far as heists go, an armored truck carrying one million francs worth of platinum in its cargo has a long route out through the country with two armed police motorcycles escorting it. Once the armored truck and police motorcade enter the mountainous terrain where the gangsters lay in wait, the heist goes surprisingly well. The motorcade is dispatched effectively as planned and the truck drivers are stowed in a nearby shed. The only diversion is a passerby who stopped because he thought he heard shots- but Gustave solves the issue and tosses the onlooker into the shed with the others. The crew returns and hides the platinum until they can find an appropriate seller.
A pivotal moment in Le deuxième souffle.
Unfortunately for Gustave, he’s kidnapped in broad daylight and tricked into revealing that Paul Ricci was involved in the heist as Blot’s team impersonated local gangsters from Marseille with insider information. Inspector Fardiano (Paul Frankeur) of the Marseille Police department receives the two gangsters, they’re heavily tortured as they attempt to break both Gustave and Paul, though eventually “Gu” does escape. Jo Ricci wants revenge for his jailed brother, and to get Gustave’s portion of the platinum’s revenue. Jo Ricci works the other two members of the crew in the heist and convinces them to side with him, fearing that Gustave could give up their names to the cops as well. After escaping the Marseille Police Department, Gustave tracks down Inspector Fardiano and kills him after obtaining a written confession that Gustave Minda did not inform on anyone and the details of the torture techniques they used in their “information gathering”. The film comes down to a shootout between Gustave, the two remaining heist members, and Jo Ricci as he takes Orloff’s place in a meeting and shows up with two pistols and a whole lot of righteous criminal honor to uphold. All are killed in the commotion, with Blot arriving just as Gustave dies on the staircase. Blot heads out of the crime scene and into the crowd, and purposefully leaves Fardiano’s confession at the feet of a journalist. Blot played by the rules, and Fardiano was just another bad cop to be swept under the rug.
This was another really solid noir film from Melville and I highly encourage you to seek out more from the Godfather of the French New Wave film movement (Or to read the best English Language book on the French Filmmaker which I reviewed here). Classic genre tropes with tough guy gangsters, prison escapes, heists, shootouts, this film cleverly includes all the usual ingredients of a typical noir film, but the genius here is in the execution. Yes, the film is two-and-a-half hours, but for me at least, the pacing was very manageable and I was engaged for the whole film’s runtime. If you’re looking for a great rivalry between an unflappable Detective and an infamous Gangster then look no further, you’ve found it! Enjoy!
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.