letterboxd.com/jamesewand/f... a few thoughts on Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969), which I enjoyed earlier this week - ThreadSky

jamesewand.bsky.social • 7 days ago

https://letterboxd.com/jamesewand/film/army-of-shadows/
a few thoughts on Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969), which I enjoyed earlier this week

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petercampbell13001.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trying not to use superlatives these days, but it's hard to avoid with that film. First time I saw it I walked out the cinema. I've now seen it probably about 8-10 times, and I think it's one of the greatest films in French cinema. It's a film that makes more sense as a older person.

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

I think I probably would have struggled with it when I was younger but I really enjoyed it. Le Samourai was my entry point to Melville as a teen and if I were honest I'd have to admit I didn't really get it (although I proabably pretended I did!)

thexclaim6.bsky.social•7 days ago

Enjoyed that

I think Mr Klein is in the mix here re: the post 60s reckoning with French complicity with its portrayal of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup

And Sorrow and the Pity of course

I wonder if Melville’s firm Gaullism felt like a bit of a throwback, post-‘68…Banger though

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes, Mr Klein and Lacombe Lucien feel like two parts of that mid-70s reckoning. I need to see Sorry and the Pity

staggerlee42.bsky.social•7 days ago

Sorrow and the Pity is magnificent! Mr Klein is my favourite Losey. Two great shouts !
Agreed about Melville btw - his perspective must have felt pretty anachronistic to some post-68

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

Definitely think the Gaullism played a part, but Melville had also fallen out with the New Wave (as he seems to have fallen out with everybody) over things like film subsidies, and both sides generally thinking the other didn't give them enough credit

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

The New Wave guys could be harsh, though. They had no time for Clouzot, for example, which makes no sense

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

I'm biased as I'm not the biggest New Wave fan, but yes it's always seemed to me that part of the project was trying to establish itself as a kind of 'year zero', so anything before that had to be at best suspect

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

I am not sure where I stand on New Wave. I tend to avoid Godard these days and, 400 Coups excepting, Truffaut is often only so-so. I lean more towards Agnès Varda and Louis Malle who were not really the core of that scene

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

Same, a lot of it I can take or leave

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

One other reason why Army of Shadows wasn't well received might be when it's set. In '42, early '43 you didn't have any of the stereotypically heroic blowing up of bridges, etc that the Resistance did later pre D-Day. So even the most sympathetic French audiences might have found it jarring

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

Also - as heroic as the characters are, some break under pressure and are turned informers, and are consequently murdered by their former comrades, which is perhaps not the way people really wanted to remember the Resistance

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

Interesting point

staggerlee42.bsky.social•7 days ago

Cracking film. Probably my favourite Melville most days…

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

Have Le Cercle Rouge on order. Will report back!

staggerlee42.bsky.social•7 days ago

A damn fine film

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

In the middle of my big Melville re-watch at the minute & convinced now that this is the Rosetta Stone for his filmography.

Saw a review somewhere that he transposed his crime picture approach onto a Resistance story but I think the crime stories are peace-time approximations for his war experience

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes, good call! After all, American film noir is often seen as an expression of post-war anxieities (about war trauma, couples separated when men went to fight, knowledge of the atom bomb etc.)

lessmarberry.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah definitely part of a wider trend, but I think there's a very specific aspect in Melville in terms of how large a part 'the authorities' play and the various means the state has at it's disposal to pursue someone

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

interesting! There's an essay in that for sure

neilsandell.bsky.social•7 days ago

Where did you find this film?

jamesewand.bsky.social•7 days ago

This one I bought on Blu-ray

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