Movie Review

Le Doulos (2007)

Reviewed by Owen Gleiberman | Jul 18, 2007

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

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EW's GRADE

B+

Details Limited Release: Jun 28, 2007; Rated: Unrated; Length: 109 Minutes; Genres: Foreign Language, Thriller; With: Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani

$LE SNITCH Belmondo (pictured left, with Jean Desailly) in Melville\'s 1962 Le Doulos, now in re-release$

Image credit: Rialto Pictures

LE SNITCH Belmondo (pictured left, with Jean Desailly) in Melville's 1962 Le Doulos, now in re-release

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Le Doulos is slang for underworld informer, and Jean-Pierre Melville's 1962 policier, which is being re-released, has a rat's-tale cleverness as curlicued as that of The Departed. It's hard to say who's loyal and who's a cad, since both of the main characters lie through their teeth: Serge Reggiani as a thief who's like a rumpled Rowan Atkinson, and Jean-Paul Belmondo as a smoothie in a trench coat who can slap a babe around rougher than Bogart. Even back in 1962, Melville made the usual suspects feel new by wrapping them in gorgeous desolation.

Originally posted Jul 17, 2007 Published in issue #945 Jul 27, 2007 Order article reprints

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DVD Review Le Doulos

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