#le professional

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The Professional 

Art by Mahmood Javady

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Movie Double Header Sunday

I wanted to watch three Vincent Cassel movies but Brotherhood of the Wolf isn't on any streaming service I can find so that will have to wait until later this week (Yay for libraries!). So instead I went with a smorgasboard of French films. 

La Haine (France 1995, 98 minutes), Written and Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui

The film centers around 3 friends and the 24 hours after a riot brought on by police brutality. The riot takes place where the three friends live, in a suburban ghetto.  

This film deserves a lot of credit for making the friendship of these three men more than believable. After reading the descriptions of a Jew, Arab and 'black boxer'  as the three friends are described by many synopses makes this film sound like it is trying to showhorn race in that way film sometimes does. It doesn't happen here. Everything here works. Even the weird experimental directoral decisions. 

Each of the three actors are very good in their roles. Cassel gets a bit more screen time than the other two. He is tremendous as the respect obsessed Vinz. Cassel portrays Vinz as charismatic and beautifully angry . At his core Vinz is just as scared as everyone else is but he desperately wants to be respected like a gangster. It is his unhinged emotions that drive the story forward. 

Hubert Kounde helps to hold the film together. His character is the moral center of the group. Kounde's facial expressions and body language communicate much of that moral fiber. When he isn't talking his acting is at its strongest. Another great performance.

Thematically it feels like spiritual compatriot to Spike Lee's masterpiece Do the Right Thing (1989). Race, police relations, poverty, status, friendship, humor, violence, death are all thematically important to both. Both are also similar in their auteur approach to film making. 

A vibrant piece of work that I suggest you check out if you haven't already.

Le Professional (France 1981, 108 minutes) Director: Georges Lautner Starring: Jean Paul Belmondo, Cyrielle Clair, Jean-Louis Richard, Robert Hossein, Elisabeth Margoni

The legendary Belmondo turns in a solid performance in what is a very entertaining film. Belmondo plays Joss, a secret agent who escapes long term imprisonment and returns home to complete his mission. 

I have seen this film several times now. It is an easy film to watch again and again. Belmondo is charismatic and entertaining. Cyrielle Clair and Elisabeth Margoni are both very good as Joss' lovers (mistress and wife, respectively). Robert Hossein turns in a good performance as the unlikeable Rosen. The story is well written and just about everything makes sense. The film does drag slightly but isn't overly long. France in the 80's looks tremendous.  

I used to describe this to my friends as "Belmondo is the French 007".  This time around I see where this may have been a movie that the Bourne Identity took some ideas from. In particular the car chase scene in this film reminded me of the one in the first Bourne film. The secret agent bent on revenge against his employers is also a theme in this film. In Le Professional it is more fleshed out since our protagonist has his memory. Much like Bourne, Joss is one step ahead of his antagonists. Outwitting them with ease. Yet his decisions take him toward a final decision. One he forces them to make.

I noticed that this could have easily been a John Woo movie from the mid 80's. There is some signature Woo stylings here (no not doves). The use of the same music during heightened moments (in fact it might be a song Woo used in one of his films, it seems incredibly familiar) had me waiting for stop frames that never came.  Thematically Lautner touches on a Woo staple; brotherhood. It isn't as fleshed out or romanticized but it definitely is there. By this point Woo hadn't made any of his classic modern day crime films. Perhaps he was influenced in some ways by this film? 

The ending of this film is interesting. In particular because of the action adventure genre that this film inhabits.  I do love this film. It isn't anything that is going to blow you away but it is a fun time with Belmondo. What more could you ask for?