Missing, Misunderstanding, Noticing: ‘Le Cercle rouge’ (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970)

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about one shot from Jean-Pierre Melville's 'Le cercle rouge'. The first thing I must confess about this shot is that I had never really seen it before – at least, not properly. It belongs to this scene happening 35 minutes into the film. The scene is the culmination of a particular idea: using intercutting to bridge the gap between Corey and Vogel – two characters that have never met, but whose destinies are, thanks to a magnetic parallel montage, intertwined from the very beginning...

Teenage Daydream: ‘Les Enfants terribles’ (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950)

History tells us that the collaboration between Jean-Pierre Melville and Jean Cocteau was neither easy nor sweet. “Before, we were brothers; during the shooting, we couldn’t stand each other”, said the director. Unlike in his debut feature 'Le Silence de la mer', where he adapted Vercors’ novel with great fidelity but also in total independence and freedom, the more collaborative nature of this project prompted many discussions. However, if 'Les Enfants terribles' is today such a fascinating film is also thanks to these artistic disagreements...