Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville — Biography

Jean-Pierre Melville, born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, is among the most influential masters of French crime cinema and is regarded as a spiritual godfather of the French New Wave. One of the first fully independent French filmmakers to win both commercial and critical success, he made films about solitude, failure and death in a cool, exact visual language. His sparse, existentialist yet stylish approach to film noir shaped later generations; Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Jim Jarmusch are among those who carry his influence.

The first phase of his career drew on his wartime experience. He served in the French Resistance during the Second World War and took the name Melville then, in tribute to his favourite American author Herman Melville, keeping it as his professional name afterwards. Le Silence de la mer (1949), Léon Morin, prêtre and Army of Shadows (1969) carry the mark of that period and portray occupied France. In his second phase he turned to the criminal underworld: Bob le flambeur (1956), Le Doulos (1962), Le Deuxième Souffle, Le Samouraï (1967), Le Cercle Rouge (1970) and Un flic are the main films of that line. He worked with actors such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon and Lino Ventura.

Besides directing he wrote and produced, and he appeared as an actor in the 1960 film Serseri Aşıklar. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He died in Paris on 2 August 1973.