Le cercle rouge

Alain Delon plays a master thief, fresh out of prison, who crosses paths with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volontè) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). The unlikely trio plot a heist, against impossible odds, until a relentless inspector and their own pasts seal their fates. With its honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces, Le cercle rouge is the quintessential film by Jean-Pierre Melville—the master of ambiguous, introspective crime cinema.

France
1970
140 minutes
Color
1.85:1
French
Spine #218

Special Features

New 4K restoration by STUDIOCANAL of the uncut version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Segments from a 1971 episode of Cinéastes de notre temps featuring director Jean-Pierre Melville
Interviews with assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Nogueira, author of Melville on Melville
On-set and archival footage, featuring interviews with Melville and actors Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and André Bourvil
Trailer
PLUS: Essays by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville, a 2000 interview with composer Eric Demarsan, and an appreciation by filmmaker John Woo

New cover by Art Chantry Design Co.

4K+Blu-ray 2 Discs $39.96 SRP: $49.95

Special Features

New 4K restoration by STUDIOCANAL of the uncut version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Segments from a 1971 episode of Cinéastes de notre temps featuring director Jean-Pierre Melville
Interviews with assistant director Bernard Stora and Rui Nogueira, author of Melville on Melville
On-set and archival footage, featuring interviews with Melville and actors Alain Delon, Yves Montand, and André Bourvil
Trailer
PLUS: Essays by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Fujiwara, excerpts from Melville on Melville, a 2000 interview with composer Eric Demarsan, and an appreciation by filmmaker John Woo

New cover by Art Chantry Design Co.

Cast & Credits

Cast

Alain Delon: Corey
André Bourvil: Captain Mattei
Gian Maria Volontè: Vogel
Pierre Collet: Prison guard
Yves Montand: Jansen
Paul Crauchet: Fence
André Ekyan: Rico
Paul Amiot: Chief of Internal Affairs
Jean-Pierre Posier: Mattei's assistant
Pierre Collet: Prison guard
André Ekyan: Rico
François Périer: Santi

Credits

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Screenwriter: Jean-Pierre Melville
Producer: Robert Dorfmann
Sound: Jean Nény
Sets: Théo Meurisse
Cinematography: Henri Decaë
Music: Eric Demarsan
Editing: Marie-Sophie Dubus
Cameraman: Charles-Henri Montel
Costumes: Colette Baudot
Assistant director: Bernard Stora

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A scene from Le cercle rouge

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Jean-Pierre Melville

Director

Though remembered now primarily for his intense, spare 1960s gangster films, French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville had a startlingly varied career, encompassing wartime dramas, psychosexual character studies, and a collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Jean-Pierre Grumbach (he would eventually change his name to Melville to honor the American author of Moby Dick) fought during World War II, first in the French army and then in the Resistance; those experiences would often inspire his work to come. After the war ended, he pursued his love of film with dogged obsession. Though a lover of classical studio directors (William Wyler and John Huston among them), Melville worked mostly independently, even building his own studio. It was this fierce do-it-yourself attitude, and such startling, uncompromising films as Les enfants terribles and Bob le flambeur, that appealed to the filmmakers of the French New Wave, who adopted Melville as a godfather of sorts (Godard even famously gave him a cameo in Breathless). During the New Wave, however, Melville went his own way, making highly idiosyncratic crime films—classically mounted if daringly existential—that were beholden to no trend, including Le doulos, Le deuxième soufflé, and Le samouraï. His most personal movie was Army of Shadows, which, though misunderstood upon its initial French release in 1969, is now widely considered a masterpiece. Melville died of a heart attack in 1973 at the age of fifty-five.