Le Doulos - Visual Themes

Visual Themes

Melville’s films balance a fine line between genres – while Le Doulos could be seen as a simple gangster film, Melville has intricately interwoven critical elements of classic film noir, drama and French new wave filmmaking. Melville even incorporates vague, but noticeable, elements of that could later be called “magical realism.” Several sets are manipulated to intensify the feelings of the characters. For example: in a wide-shot, a character stands under the light of a single lamppost in the middle of a field, wrapped in a heavy mist.

Of course, as a film-noir, Le Doulos boasts an incredible use of shadows, also almost to the point of impossibility. In some interior scenes, it seems as though the light is coming from so many odd directions that such a room could not be possible – however, this does not appear to be an error on part of the cinematography, rather an intentional decision made by Melville.

Melville focuses intensely on those staples of the crime film, trench coats and hats, almost to the point of fetishism. Added to the pseudo-surreal cinematography mentioned above, Melville’s world, in which literally every man is garbed in a buttoned and fastened trench coat and donned with a hat seems to be at a disconnect with our own. This similar wardrobe sometimes also has the effect of causing the audience to lose track of which character is which – sometimes, this has a consequence on the narrative, while other times it does not.