This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Strictly average movie

Just perfect...

Best movie ever!

Viewed at the Golden Apricot Film Festival, Yerevan, 2017. The peak film of the Yerevan week was without a doubt "Le Cercle Rouge", the 1970 all star gangland thriller by master of the genre, Jean-Pierre Melville. Not as well known as his younger Nouvelle Vague disciples, Truffaut and Godard, but a much better filmmaker, Melville specialized in deliberately paced psychological thrillers in which top French stars delivered some of their best performances. At the very beginning we are informed that the cryptic title, The Red Circle, comes from a fatalistic Buddhist capsule of wisdom which states that no matter what their divergent paths may be all men end up in the same Red Circle. The three men with the divergent paths here are (1) Corey, a cool gangster just released from prison and hoping to go straight (Alain Delon), (2j Vogel, a desperado killer on the lam, (Italian star Gian Maria Volonte) and (3) Jansen, a retired expert police marksman with a drinking problem and questionable morals (Yves Montand). They come together by fate to successfully pull off a tremendous midnight jewelry heist on Ritzy Place Vendôme in central Paris but will all end up in the fatal Red Circle due to a complex network of interlocking intrigues and betrayals. Bravado, integrity, and betrayal are recurrent themes in Melville films. Pulling them in to the fatal circle is another iconic French actor, Bourvil, as the wily cat loving detective relentlessly tracking the escaped Vogel all across France from Marseille to Paris, there callously exploiting his major informant contacts. (François Périer, another major French character actor). The long heist scene filmed in complete silence is spellbinding and a tribute of sorts to a similar scene in the Jules Dassin technically perfect crime thriller "Rififi" of 1955. Together with "Le Samouaï", another Melville masterpiece also starring Delon, Red Circle is an enduring twin peaks of French thriller cinema. Breathless entertainment all the way, and the work of a master craftsman at the top of his game. Cercle Rouge was part of a five film tribute to Maître Melville in the Armenian capital on the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

Jean-Pierre Melville is famous in certain circles for leading Hitchcock to voluntarily give up making crime-dramas with a little film called Bob le Flambeur. Whatever majesty was present in his early work has truly been honed to a fine edge in Le Cercle Rouge...Those familiar with the many masterpieces Melville has crafted during the 20th Century will know how much of a formidable duo he and Alain Delon make, specifically with gems like Le Samurai. Well, the team are at it again. Melville and Delon guide the spectator through this sprawling crime/drama/heist film (in truth, it is the work of an auteur so genre is not so easily applied) like a confident instructor leading a graceful waltz. Although technically being before the Nouvelle Vague, Melville is very much a vital part of that vital movement. Godard citing his films as a huge influence in breaking away from the tired techniques of cinema du papa. Although one could group him in with other filmmakers of that time and place, Melville's films still retain a unique and authorial style and tone, all of his own. An aesthetic that is very much present in Le Cercle Rouge. This movie is a great example that you don't need fast paced editing, snappy dialogue and cool soundtrack to make a heist interesting, look out for a 20 minute master-class in tension. Using no dialogue or music for the whole segment. A class, some might say (myself included) that the likes of Steven Soderbergh should have attended.One of the greatest talents in cinema, one who should be more widely recognised as one of film's geniuses. If this tickles your fancy then I will highly recommend Le Samurai, Bob le Flambeur (as have been mentioned) and L'armée des Ombres.Thanks for reading.

Jean-Pierre Melville doesn't need a lot of words. Aside from an occasional jazzy score not even a lot of music is required to enhance what is seen on screen - and that's engaging enough if the writer/director succeeds in setting the viewer in the proper mood. Melville's French nouvelle vague re-invention of the gangster genre relies solely on building suspense with following his protagonists around in long takes one after the other, piquing our interest in the characters, their motivations, their goals, and while their backgrounds stay mysterious there's always a surprise in store up ahead. The plot is much more straightforward than in other Melville thrillers like "Le Doulos" or "Bob Le Flambeur", but "Le Cercle Rouge's" big forte is to highlight all the different angles of the four key players: The suave aristocratic jewel thief (Alain Delon), who defines the term "cool", the murderer and escaped ex-convict (Gian Maria Volonté), the former police sharpshooter with an alcohol problem (Yves Montand) and finally the police superintendent (Bourvil in a surprisingly un-comedic role) on the other side of the law. The paths of the criminals cross in order to carry out an elaborate heist, but in fact they are just moving closer together to find themselves in the inevitable red circle, where the fatalistic conclusion awaits.What sets "Un Cercle Rouge" apart from other entries of the genre is that we are engulfed with a uniquely elegant French-American flair that surrounds the Parisian dark alleys, where a perfect crime feels chic - if one can only get away with it. Indeed it is mainly a question of style what keeps us on the edge of our seats, and for those who enjoy the aesthetics of film this cinematic composition as a whole surpasses many of the works of Melville's Hollywood idols he tried to imitate and endow with a French twist. Highly enjoyable!

"The Red Circle" (Le Cercle Rouge) is an exceptionally well executed heist film of the old-school variety, featuring four well known European actors: Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Gian Maria Golante, and Andre Bourvil, written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Unlike recent Hollywood heist films involving complicated acrobatics, electronic expertise and an inevitable love interest, "Le Cercle Rouge" is refreshingly straight forward, careful , if slow-moving in its exposition, and well acted. Without going into plot details, Delon is an ex-con, Golante a murderer who escaped police custody and is on the run, Montand is an ex-police sharpshooter in the grips of post-spree DTs when he's introduced and Bourvil is the police inspector who pursues them. Montand's performance in an uncharacteristic role is worth a special note. If you like heist films and have not been spoiled by Hollywood excess, this film is worth pursuing.