#115: DASSIN, Jules: Rififi (1955)

DASSIN, Jules (France)

Rififi [1955]

Spine #115
DVD

After making such American noir classics as The Naked City and Brute Force, blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious heist in the City of Lights. At once naturalistic and expressionistic, this mélange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor was an international hit and earned Dassin the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Criterion is proud to present Rififi in a pristine digital transfer.

118 minutes
Black & White

Monaural

in French

1:33:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2001

Director/Writers

After the novel by Auguste le Breton.

Screenplay by Jules Dassin, in collaboration with René Wheeler and Auguste le Breton.

Dassin was 44 when he directed Rififi.

Other Dassin films in the Collection:

#383: Brute Force (1947)
#380: The Naked City (1948)
#273: Thieves' Highway (1949)
#274: Night And The City (1950)

The Film

The blacklisting of Dassin — which nearly ruined his life — was a gift to France, where Dassin was warmly received (save the initial 1953 Zsa Zsa Gabor fiasco, where the producer was threatened by an American politician and Dassin was pulled off a project [The Most Wanted Man]).

With a budget of $200,000 (Dassin’s salary was $8,000!), the film was made cheaply. Jean Servais (Tony) was on a road to nowhere because of his alcoholism; Carl Möhner (Jo) was suggested by the producer’s wife; Robert Manuel (Mario) was plucked from the Comédie-Française; and Dassin himself picked up the role of César le Milanais (under the alias Perlo Vita), after another Italian actor bowed out.

Magali Noël (Viviane) deserves a mention — if only for her singing the theme song “Rififi” (untranslateable, but something like “rough and tumble”).

Actually, Dassin initially found the source material unintelligible, due to the gangster argot. He was also put off by the racism of Breton’s novel, with its depiction of the criminals as North Africans. He thought of changing them to Americans (ha, eat that, HUAC!), but finally settled on the mix of French, a Swede, and two Italians (plus the Grutter villains, a nice Germanic touch) …

**

The centerpiece of this gorgeous heist movie (too gorgeous, perhaps — real criminals copied its methods) is the 33-minute scene with no dialogue or music, showing the gang at work. It is a tour-de-force often copied, but never equaled.

Georges Auric — the composer — had feverishly tried to talk Dassin into letting him score the scene “to protect” him. When it was ready, Dassin played the scene for Auric with and without the music, and Auric concurred that it was better without.

**

The dialogue that is perhaps the moral center of the film, is perhaps missed by many. Keeping in mind, the job opportunities in the immediate postwar environment, check out Jo’s wife, Louise (Janine Darcey) — who is sedated — freaked about her missing boy, and quietly lecturing her gangster husband:

“Millons of kids have grown up poor like you … how did it happen? What difference was there between them and you, that you became a hood, a tough guy, and not them? Know what I think, Jo? They’re the tough guys, not you.”

Film Rating (0-60):

58

The Extras

The Booklet

Six-page wraparound featuring an essay by Jamie Hook.

“Part of the key to Rififi’s genius is that no single element outshines another. Like a diamond, each facet of the film gleams as brightly: the performances, especially Servais’ minimalist take on the dog-eared protagonist Tony and Dassin’s own lighthearted portrayal of the safecracker Cesar le Milanais, are quite excellent. The cinematography is stunning, particularly the nighttime shots, where we see the sharp of Tony’s hat laid against the smears of neon that pulse in the city streets behind him. The music, by famed composer Auric, is dead on, restrained and somber, occasionally breaking into dance. The plot is an economic wonder: three succinct acts that unfold with the dedication of an opera, building to a glorious, melodramatic finish. And the sets, by the great designer Alexandre Trauner (who had worked on Children of Paradise), manage to hold their own against Dassin’s obsessively and lovingly researched street locations. The interior of the obligatory gangland nightclub (named ‘L’Age d’Or’ in homage to the Buñuel film Trauner also previously designed) is especially handsome, its definitive architecture piling the requisite layers upon layers — like the ballroom leading upstairs to the gangster’s office, which, of course, has a back door that takes us to the dreamland of backstage. Only the gorgeous Parisian locations — the train station and assorted back alleys — threaten to outshine Trauner’s lovely sets.”

Commentary

None.

Video interview

With director Dassin.

Vital. He discusses the blacklist period with obvious pain. And he lights up when remember the making of this masterpiece.

Production stills

Plus set design drawings by Alexandre Trauner.

Production notes

Theatrical trailer

Selling the sensationalism, of course.

Extras Rating (0-40):

35

58 + 35 =

93

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