Professional hitman Jef Costello carries out a contract killing but gets seen leaving the scene. He ends up caught between the police who suspect him and the criminals who hired him. Jean-Pierre Melville strips the crime film down to a philosophical minimum. You get a man defined entirely by his code, moving toward an end he has already accepted.
Le Samourai is a 1967 crime, drama and thriller film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 editing, 3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Army of Shadows uses several of the same techniques.
Holding on quiet shots of characters watching and taking in the world around them, without cutting away. Glances, gestures and shared silence carry as much as any action.
How this film uses it
Jef Costello speaks maybe 50 lines in the entire film. Melville builds the character through his rituals of preparation and the precision of how he behaves on the job. For long stretches, you simply watch a man who communicates almost entirely through action. The silence comes across as total self-sufficiency.
Where to see it
The extended opening. Jef lies on his bed in the grey apartment while the camera watches him in silence. You get the character through stillness before a word is spoken.
Moving the film at the slow, deliberate pace of a ritual, with long takes, few cuts and unhurried camera moves. The patience builds dread and gives each step the weight of a ceremony.
How this film uses it
Before the hit, Jef adjusts his hat brim precisely, raises his coat collar and puts on his gloves. These preparations are filmed with the solemn feeling of a religious ritual. Melville turns professional routine into ceremony. Each step is necessary and exact, and nobody gets to question it.
Where to see it
Jef's preparation sequence. The hat, coat, gloves and stolen car keys are laid out with surgical precision. He goes through the professional ritual as if a sacred act comes next.
Limiting the film to a tightly chosen set of colors, or giving each place or state its own set. The colors tell you about the world and its mood without dialogue.
How this film uses it
Henri Decaë films Paris in drained grey-blues that don't match the city's real color. The palette comes entirely from Jef's state of mind. The world is grey because it holds no emotional value for a man who has cut feeling out of his life. That is, the colors are a portrait of what goes on inside him.
Where to see it
Jef's apartment and the grey Paris streets. The drained colors set up a world defined by what the job requires. There is pretty much no lived experience in it.
Introducing a character by showing them in action or at work before any explaining dialogue. You learn their skill, fears, humor and values by watching what they do.
How this film uses it
You meet Jef through his methods. You see the stolen car, the building of the false alibi and the hit itself. Melville gives no backstory and no motivation beyond the code. Who Jef is comes entirely out of how he works. The film suggests that for some people, the work is the self.
Where to see it
The first 20 minutes of the film. Jef prepares and carries out the contract. His professional behavior alone establishes the character.
Starting the film by showing or telling you how it ends, such as the main character's death or defeat. The rest of the story then explains how things got there.
How this film uses it
The film opens with a forged Bushido epigraph: 'There is no greater solitude than that of the samurai, unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle... Perhaps...' The quote states everything the film has to say before it begins. Jef's solitude, his code and his unavoidable end are all announced in the first image.
Where to see it
The opening epigraph and Jef's grey apartment. The film states its theme and then shows it right away. You see the man in stillness, straight after the words that define him.
Questions
Le Samourai: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Le Samourai use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Le Samourai (1967): Silent Observation Pacing, Ceremonial Pacing, Color Palette as Worldbuilding, Character Through Action Introduction and Proleptic Opening.
Who directed Le Samourai?
Jean-Pierre Melville directed Le Samourai, released in 1967. CineCode also covers Army of Shadows (1969).
What films are similar to Le Samourai?
Films that share techniques with Le Samourai include Army of Shadows (1969), Stalker (1979), In the Mood for Love (2000), Midsommar (2019).
