Le Deuxième Souffle

One incident during this shoot permanently ended a friendship. For the scene in which Gu boards a train, Melville quietly instructed the driver to increase the speed gradually, making the jump genuinely harder for Lino Ventura. When Ventura found out, there was a furious row and the two never spoke again. They worked together once more, on Army of Shadows three years later, but communicated only through assistants. The source is José Giovanni's novel. Production was to begin in 1964 with Serge Reggiani and Simone Signoret and was abandoned. Giovanni negotiated the rights hard and imposed one change: the roles of Ventura and Paul Meurisse were swapped. Ventura was originally to play Commissaire Blot and Meurisse to play Gu. Gu escapes from prison, is drawn into one last robbery, and Blot refuses to let go. It was the last film Melville shot in black and white. Who it is for: viewers who like Melville's crime cinema of procedure, silence and honour. Who it is not for: anyone wanting speed. It runs close to two and a half hours, the scenes are long, and emotional expression is almost entirely suppressed.