DVD/150: LA LIGNE DE DÉMARCATION (Line of Demarcation) (Claude Chabrol, 1966)

Chabrol's resistance drama has possibly been overshadowed by Jean-Pierre Melville's later L'ARMÉE DES OMBRES (Army of Shadows) which is similar in tone - Melville delves deeper into the resistance's layered operations - but Chabrol's under-rated film is both an involving WWII thriller and a portrait of a society's failings and humanity.

1941: a village in the Jura mountains is dissected by a river and the war: Nazi-occupied France on one side of the bridge, the Free Zone on the other.

Count Pierre returns, demobilised after being wounded, and discovers the Nazis have commandeered his chateau.  His English wife Mary lives in the hunting lodge and Pierre discovers she helps the Resistance move escapees over the river to the free zone.

He refuses to help, disenchanted with the resistance's piecemeal achievements, but when a wounded spy is hidden by the townsfolk and the Gestapo close in, Pierre has to act.

Shelf or charity shop?  This is a shelf candidate for several reasons: I will definitely watch this again for Chabrol's firm grasp of the story-telling and his sharp character delineation, a fine performance from Jean Seberg as the conscientious Mary, and quietly impressive performances from Maurice Ronet as Pierre, Daniel Gélin as the town's doctor, Stéphane Audran as the doctor's wife, Roger Dumas as the double-dealing poacher Chétl, Mario David as a vengeful game-warden and Noel Roquevert as the town's plain-speaking café owner.  Several times the influence of Roberto Rossellini's PAISÁ is felt in the film's unflinching depiction of the casual indifference to life during wartime.

Dvd/150: A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (Breathless, Jean Luc Godard, 1960)

Marking cinematographer Raoul Coutard's death and the late Jean Seberg's 78th anniversary, I watched again the film that influenced so many filmmakers, A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, and it's still exciting and provoking.

Dedicated to Monogram Pictures studios, the plot is pure film noir: small-time criminal Michel steals a car in Marseille and, while driving to Paris, shoots a policeman.  Once there, he unsuccessfully tries to borrow money while hiding out with sometime-girlfriend, American student Patricia.

Patricia has found out she is pregnant, maybe it's Michel's.  Over the course of a day, they chatter, make love, argue, but always with a strange disconnect because of language or attitude.

Fellow nouvelle vague directors Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut were involved in the script but Godard's shoot-and-run film captures the dizzying excitement of 1960s young European cinema personified by the ageless performances of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.

Shelf or charity shop? Jean will be selling the New York Herald Tribune on my shelf for some time to come..