Un Flic (1972)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville; produced by Robert Dorfmann

Commissaire Coleman (Alain Delon) is a weary Paris detective. Simon (Richard Crenna) is a night-club owner who moonlights as an armed thief. Their cat-and-mouse game is played out against a background of sterile streets of concrete and glass, and through the medium of Cathy (Catherine Deneuve), Simon’s wife and Coleman’s mistress. Who will be hurt and who will be killed is a bigger mystery than who will be caught and who will survive.

The movie’s title refers not to motion pictures, or to a switchblade knife. It is a French slang term for ‘a cop’, though the point of view in the film is, in fact, a little more often with the criminals than with the police. This was Melville’s last movie before he died and, though not an outstanding example of the director’s work, is a good one.

The story is intriguing, with a gang of four quiet, low-key robbers who plan their heists meticulously, and a detective who is determined, though in an equally under-stated way, to catch them. There are some holes in the story, if not in the plot. For instance, we never learn the motives for the robberies committed. One of the criminals, certainly, has reason for participation: Paul Weber (Riccardo Cucciolla) has been unemployed for a year, and needs money. Why the others have turned to crime is left undiscovered.

The acting is just as restrained, with Delon coming off best. He seems a relatively mild-mannered policeman, but when he is crossed, he can turn violent, and even his routine embodies harshness, though it is all in a day’s work. It is surprising to see American actors Crenna and Michael Conrad (best known for his role as the police sergeant in the tv series Hill Street Blues) in a French movie. They both spoke French for their roles, but their characters’ voices were dubbed in by native actors, to give them appropriate accents. Deneuve has little to do that another actress could not.

Just as significant as any other aspect of Un Flic is the look. There is something bleakly modern to the settings, starting with the impressive opening scene. This takes place on a provincial city’s sea-front, with great blocks of unimaginative apartment buildings - every apartment shuttered - being pounded by a rain-storm. Like a portal to a different world, one ground floor space - a bank - is lit and occupied.

Later, we see police headquarters, an avant garde structure that seems to bend and warp. Other exteriors are bland; interiors could be from any city in the world. Only reflections in glass, or views through windows, remind the viewer that he is in Paris or even France.

The characters seem more suited to the 1940s, many of them wearing trilbies or fedoras, and trench coats. It is easy to see the whole movie transferred to an earlier era. The contrast of the modern architecture with the dated fashions is probably intentional.

While not an excellent heist film - the use of a model train and helicopter during one extended scene is noticeable - Un Flic is quite good, and is a strangely stylistic finale to Melville’s career.