Film Blog 3. Jean-Pierre Melville

Connor McShane

Film: Blog 3

October 25, 2010

     Jean-Pierre Grumbach was born on October 20, 1917, he went on to study in Paris where he was introduced to some of the early cinema of the time. Seeing these films created a great obsession for Jean-Pierre which carried into his adulthood. Pierre started making amateur films in his years as a teenager, but soon after, his beginning endeavors with film were halted by WWII. He was enlisted into the French army, and after fleeing to England Jean-Pierre joined the free French forces. After the war Jean went straight to the French technicians union to get reinserted into the film industry, but was sadly rejected; in rage Jean-Pierre went and created his own film studio.

     In 1946 Jean-Pierre Grumbach opened his film studio in Paris. It was this time that Jean-Pierre adopted the name Melville, from his favorite author, Herman Melville. Jean-Pierre Melville began making low budget films in the 1950s. These low budget films were raw and new to the era; they had boundless on site shots and natural lighting, and were considered the stepping stones for the creation of the new wave French films in the 1950s and 60s. Melville’s style of onsite shooting became the inspiration for a new era of film; it was his use of hidden cameras and or any street and building—even though he acquired no permit to shoot—but this secrecy is what became so appealing. The new age of directors would follow in Melville’s footsteps; it was his style of film that evoked filming of the raw realities of life. His use of dark intimate sets and low light close-ups became a revolution in the film industry. These aspects of Melville’s films led to him working with writer director Jean Cocteau; and later making a name for himself as the father of the French gangster film.

     Films such as Léon Morin, Le Doulos, and Le Samouraï all coined Melville as the father of the gangster film. This type of film that Pierre was creating was shot very similar to the new wave era—which was adopted from Melville. It was these films that gave Melville his claim to fame. Le Samouraï is the film that really honed Melville’s style, it is notably his most famous film, and is still to this day a French cult classic. The film concentrated his technique, and really showed his eye for detail, along with Melville’s underlying philosophy, which can be seen in all of his films, is the idea of honor before everything. If it wasn’t for Melville’s fascination of the American society, his films would not have been inspirational to the French cinema—the influence of American culture bled into the French new wave era through Melville. Because Melville is considered to be the godfather of the gangster film, his 13 films act as a piece of inspiration that the gangster film director of today will look back on. Along with inspiring the gangster genre, the film critic can somewhat attribute the new wave era of film to Jean-Pierre Melville; a classic French director whose films are seen as marvels to this day.