Once again, Melville and his cinematographer, Henri Decae, have achieved something that's very nice to look at and also tightly enough constructed to follow with interest throughout. There is, in particular, a superb jewel robbery sequence.

| Oct 24, 2023

Grimly elegant...

| Jun 21, 2021

A classic cornerstone of the heist genre from a master of the nouvelle vague.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

Melville's special achievement was to relocate the American gangster film in France, and to incorporate his own steely poetic and philosophical obsessions.

| Feb 9, 2006

The epitome of neo-noir stylishness.

| Original Score: A- | Oct 31, 2005

A fitting capstone to the French director who melded icy hipster cool with a Parisian underground of cops, robbers, and the unbreakable, unknowable bond between the two.

| Oct 1, 2003

Jean-Pierre Melville's terrifically enjoyable noir classic looks even cooler with this reissue.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 8, 2003

The director's penultimate work.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 27, 2003

A slo-mo gem of gangster cool.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 19, 2003

One can still savour Melville's leisurely storytelling, the skilfully pared-down visual style, and the calmly understated central performances.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 17, 2003

Stylish, meticulous and moody, thanks largely to the work of cinematographer Henri Decae.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 12, 2003

A moody, deliberately paced meditation on destiny (and style) enlivened by stunning bits of business.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jun 5, 2003

There is one cool, understated scene after another.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 23, 2003

A classic of the clenched-fist, dark-skied, doom-laden world of noir.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | May 22, 2003

A minor classic, mainly for reasons besides its crime story plot -- namely, the urbane fatalism of its cast and the overall mood of inevitability that hangs over every scene.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 2, 2003

Cercle's set piece -- which arrives well beyond the midpoint -- never has the carat-weight of the gem mounted in the middle of Rififi, but once it has turned that corner, the movie begins to soar.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2003

Enthrallingly retro-cool.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Apr 27, 2003

There are unforgettable tableaux of movement, meticulously executed with wordless cool.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2003

Witty chatter and cool atmospherics may be familiar stuff to anyone who has watched a crime movie or three. But this is where this kind of business began.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2003

A dazzling epic of love, guns, gangsters and cigarettes.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 13, 2003