Le Cercle Rouge

Hailed as one of the greatest heist movies of all time, Jean-Pierre Melville’s LE CIRCLE ROUGE (1970) has just been released in a stunning and first ever 4K restoration. Alain Delon, Yves Montand and Gian Maria Volonté star as three gangsters brought together by fate to plan and execute a daring jewellery robbery in the heart of Paris.

The opening credits depict a rotating Buddha and a quote from Rama Krishna: “When men, even unknowingly, are to meet one day, whatever may befall each, whatever the diverging paths on the said day, they will inevitably come together in the red circle.”
In Marseille, gangster Corey (A. Delon) is released early from prison due to his good behaviour though before he’s set free a bent prison warden tips him off about a luxurious jewellery shop with a possibility of robbing it. Initially dismissing the idea as foolish because he doesn’t fancy going back to the slammer should things go wrong, the prison warden reckons that with Corey’s track record, he would have little chance of finding honest employment anyway. Finally outside, Corey’s first port of call is a visit to Rico (André Ekyan), an unreliable former associate who now lives with Corey’s ex-girlfriend to add insult to injury. Playing it cool, Corey knows that Rico is lying when he offers to help him out with money (actually it’s money he owes him) the following day… Consequently Corey helps himself to a wad of cash and a gun which he retrieves from the safe of his former buddy. Entering a billiard hall, Corey doesn’t get the chance to play because two of Rico’s men are already waiting, leading to a violent confrontation during which Corey beats one of the assailants senseless and killing the second one whose gun he also takes. It’s certainly time to leave Marseille! With the cash he liberated from Rico he buys a car and heads for Paris.

The same morning, Inspector Mattei (André Bourvil) accompanies a ruthless prisoner called Vogel (G. M. Volonté) on a train from Marseille to Paris, however, during the journey Vogel manages to free himself from his handcuffs and boldly breaks through the window from the rolling train, escaping into the open countryside. Mattei immediately pulls the emergency brake and attempts to follow Vogel but to no avail. In big trouble with his superior over Vogel’s escape, Mattei leaves no stone unturned in catching the convict and arranges everything from a massive manhunt to roadblocks. Once again, to no avail. Meanwhile, Corey sits in a roadside diner with his car parked outside and the car boot unlocked. Still hunted by the police, Vogel eventually reaches the diner and tries out various car boots to see whether they’re unlocked, coming across Corey’s. Vogel swiftly climbs into the car boot and hides, though Corey watches him doing so. After continuing with his journey Corey stops in a field where he smokes a cigarette and orders the stranger to climb out of the car boot. After a tense few minutes Corey realises that Vogel is the very subject of the nationwide manhunt and offers to take him to Paris. En route he is followed by two men belonging to Rico’s gang. Flanked by their car, Corey then is ordered to stop at a roadside. Intend on killing Corey, the gangsters fail to see Vogel climbing out of the car boot. Seconds later he is killing the men. Now he and Corey are in cahoots for better or worse, bound by fate and by two dead men. As a ‘Merci’ for having saved his life, Corey invites Vogel to stay in his Parisian flat where he tells him what the prison warden back in Marseille said. Vogel agrees to the robbery in the jewellery shop but both are aware that they need a third man in the team, an expert marksman who can disable the tricky security system with a single rifle shot. Vogel suggests Jansen (Y. Montand), an ex-policeman who has since advanced to the status of a severe alcoholic – so much so that he suffers from cold sweats and delirium tremens (creepy crawly alert)! They also need a fence to ‘distribute’ the stolen goods and indeed find one (played by Paul Crauchet) though he warns them that it will take a considerable time to sell the ‘hot goods’.

After having met with Jansen he agrees to the plan and henceforward is hard at work in becoming a sober man, even visiting the jewellery shop in question (posing as a customer) so he can eye up the various high security instalments. While Corey, Vogel and Jansen are busy planning the deed to the exact detail, Inspector Mattei hopes to learn of Vogel’s possible whereabouts from Santi (Francois Perier), a shady nightclub owner with underworld connections. Suffice to say Santi claims to know nothing. The day of the big robbery arrives and despite the store’s complex security system the three men succeed in escaping with bling worth millions. What should be smooth sailing soon turns sour, however, when their fence suddenly refuses to peddle the stolen goods, having been warned off by Rico.
Corey returns to the nightclub and asks Santi whether he might know of a reliable fence, which he does… unfortunately Corey cannot possible know that the new fence is in fact Inspector Mattei who has blackmailed Santi into revealing incriminating details. Corey steps right into the trap and arranges to meet Mattei (posing as a fence) in his country retreat with Jansen in tow. Perhaps out of intuition, perhaps out of experience – whatever the reason, Vogel has a feeling that the new fence is not who he claims to be and turns up at the country house unexpectedly – thus sealing his fate as well as the fate of Corey and Jansen…

With a running time of 140 minutes, director Melville certainly takes his time in introducing the characters and establishing their connections to one another. Like with other Melville films, most notably ‘Le Samurai’ (1967, also featuring Alain Delon), the pace is deliberately controlled and dialogue and acting are minimal – a method which works extremely well in ‘Le Cercle Rouge’. Even the scene during which the jewellery shop is robbed seems to unfold in real time, played out in minute detail in front of our very eyes. Delon is perfect as the steely-eyed man whose intentions to leave his criminal past behind him are scuppered by his chance encounter with escaped convict Vogel (who is of course perfectly cast with Gian Maria Volonté). Yves Montand only appears halfway through the film but more than makes up for it with a nuanced performance as a self-destructive alcoholic whose only motivation to sober up is by carrying out the heist of the year.
LE CERCLE ROUGE is available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital with new Extras including the docu ‘The Perfect Circle’.