Rating of
4/4
Light and shade
Bribaba - wrote on 05/03/11
Minimal action, maximum tension and evocative of the period like no other, this excellent film also serves as a master class in directing. The acting isn't bad, either: Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret and Jean-Pierre Cassel share the honours. The blue/grey palette which Melville also used in Le Samourai is equally effective here.The subject matter is one of the most shameful periods in French history. The supreme irony being that it was this very shame that inspired the heroism to which this film attests.
