The elements at work in Le deuxième souffle, a 1966, two and a half hours long, French “film gris” feels inexplicable in today’s terms. Painstakingly slow in offering conflict, all you’d like to do is to take it back to the editing table and remove one hour out of it. The crime genre has probably morphed the most over the years. But this is also why it’s still an interesting watch, given that it’s 11 AM and you do this for a living. It’s impressive to notice what was thought of to be relevant in terms of exposition. It’s also impressive to notice a top-notch blocking, offering constant character movement on the screen, built to support the endless dialogues between Lino Ventura’s villain and his social circle (friends, lover, crime partners), which takes first hand as opposed to genre’s mandatory twists or point of no returns.
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