Abstract
This article examines the career of Jean-Pierre Melville, and argues that his impact upon French cinema has been neglected. First, it outlines the institutional and (non-) professional contexts of Melville's work in film, as an independent producer-director. Next, it considers the difficulties that Melville has presented to scholars and critics alike, in terms of his idiosyncratic historical placement within accounts of French cinema. Finally, the essay addresses Melville as a stylist, analysing not only the key aesthetic qualities of his films, but also how they relate to certain of his film-making contemporaries, in particular Robert Bresson. Working primarily from Melville's last completed film, Un Flic/Dirty Money (1972), this section traces out the director's ascetic approach to film style, focusing on Melville's use of colour, sound and performance.
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