★ 7 / 10
Alain Delon is near his best as the
CinemaSerf
Alain Delon is near his best as the eponymous, rather odious, art dealer quite happily fleecing the terrified Jewish community of their precious possessions at…
Alain Delon is near his best as the eponymous, rather odious, art dealer quite happily fleecing the terrified Jewish community of their precious possessions at cut race prices as they make preparations to try and flee the Nazi occupation of Paris. It's when one such victim is leaving his elegant apartment one day that "Klein" notices a Jewish newspaper at his door - with his name on it! He goes to the police to make it clear that he is not the "Robert Klein" on the address, but do they believe him? Do they think that perhaps he is trying to pull the wool over their eyes too? He concludes that the only way he can be certain is to track down the real doppelgänger before he ends up suffering the same dispossession and deportation as those he had thus far all too readily exploited. One can never have enough of Jeanne Moreau and her role as the enigmatic "Florence" is a little undercooked here, but as the rest of this complex thriller builds up steam we see Joseph Losey using Delon, and our own appreciation of just how terrifying it must have been for most during the occupation let alone the Jewish population, as weapons to potently reveal that terror and to ultimately maybe even humanise - as well as, perhaps, ridicule - this most venal and shallow of men. Is he now the hunted? Can he escape with his life? The more he thinks he has swum away from danger, the more the maelstrom seems to embrace him - and that catch 22 scenario is enthralling to watch play out here. It's cleverly photographed with a score that augments our own - and his - sense of increasing peril and frustration and though it's perhaps just a little slow at the start, it turns into a cracker.
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★ 8 / 10
Into the abyss.
stuka24
Delon as the classic "individualist" who profiteers until finally the Brechtian idea of "first they came for 'x', you weren't concerned..." simply happened is…
Delon as the classic "individualist" who profiteers until finally the Brechtian idea of "first they came for 'x', you weren't concerned..." simply happened is a paranoiac, gloomy view of France during the war. A bit heavy-handed from the start, nevertheless is thrilling and keeps you wondering what is really happening till the end. Harder to follow than any Hitchcock or Christie, probably on purpose, as if to say: Life is not always so clear cut.Lady Moreau and Francine Bergé could have had more "character development", while beautiful leggy Juliet Berto's long figure and erratic behaviour is all we can see from Bob's fiancé. Robert is cold, intelligent, self assured, able to answer like a French writer while his house is being requisitioned by the police. Lonsdale, from many Buñuel films, gives us the eerie feeling so necessary for this film to succeed. Jugnot and Aumont deliver in their smaller roles. Suzanne Flon, from "Un crime au paradis" among others, is convincing in her obfuscated part.Gerry Fisher's cinematography and Egisto Macchi's score make this film stand apart, you've get the feeling of "really being there". In the grim and everyday aspects, not fictionalized for being palatable. mackjay from IMDb writes: "Klein's mixture of desperation and arrogance with so much conviction, it's easy to forget he is, after all, acting". C. Tashiro adds that the Nazi horrors are taken for granted, making them more real. Like J. L. Borges usually quipped: "There are no camels in the 1001 nights" meaning those involved don't notice what we, the viewers, probably would.Franco Solinas's script conveys paranoia as faced by somebody who seems never to have suffered for anything, nor anybody for that matter. Great film, but obviously, not "light viewing". Maybe a tad slow for nowadays's viewers.Gripping!!
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Any one have an idea about the new web verssion