Rififi

I've just watched Jules Dassin's Rififi, which is set in both Paris and Montmartre (and a half-crumbled house somewhere in the country for the ending - but all of them stunningly beautiful). There is enough known legend about the film without my repetition here: how Dassin made the film in European exile and half-broke after being shunted in America on the blacklist during the McCarthy years; how the film is considered like the father of all heist films (his Topkapi was apparently paid homage to in Mission Impossible - but then Brian de Palma pays homage to so many people one kind of wonders (and I know for a fact I'm not the only one) where is his line between homage and ripoff), his celebrated 28-minute silent scene (no dialogue, no music) of the breaking into the bank, the details of which were so comprehensive it was apparently banned by the French police for fear of being too "instructional".

The critics rave about it as a heist film. And yes, it is one - it's about a daring bank robbery. But it's also more than that (and there must be more, because as a rule I get awfully bored by heist films). So here's a list:

No. 1: it's set in France. Enough said.

No. 2: it's also about a time when films were civilized, subtle and sensitive and screen violence need not always be so f****ing in your face. There is no shortage of violence in Rififi - there are at least 7 deaths in the film, 1 whipping, 1 kidnapping of a kid, people being cudgelled. But everything takes place as POV shots or (after an artful buildup) offscreen, and people are killed in genuine tragic ethos rather than simply as an excuse to spray blood around the place to excite the rabble. The robbers are criminals, make no mistake about that, but consider this: as they tied up the couple who lived above the bank, someone (I think it was Cesar) propped a pillow behind the old woman's head to make her more comfortable. How cool is that?! Would we ever see a touch like this in films today?

No. 3: it's got great filmmaking. Near the climax of the film, the protagonist drives the kid home, but, well, he wasn't driving very well as he wasn't feeling too good (I won't give any spoilers here). It's a thrilling sequence - exciting, tragic, riveting. Yet it was all done without dialogue, without melodrama, without excessive acting - there are minimal close-ups of the actor's face. Just fantastic shot sequences and great camera angles. I won't describe it in detail - but it's superlative, in my opinion as good as the best by Hitchcock or Eisenstein. Trees, a laughing kid, a close-up of a foot, the Champs-Elysee... A director who achieves that kind of effect by the sheer power of images alone, now that is a good director.

No. 4: it's got heart. I'm thinking of The Score, Reservoir Dogs, the one-dimensional Ocean's 11, even The Killing...(sorry, but as I said, I don't watch many heist movies). But none of them has heart (the cheesy born-again romance between George Clooney and Julia Roberts does NOT count.) This film features the real warmth of a close couple, a family and of extended family (a godfather and his godson). Set that against a backdrop of a mega bank robbery, plenty of violence driven by a ruthless gangster twisted by revenge and greed and a drug addict struggling for his next fix, humiliated ex-lovers, codes of honour among thieves......it's a miracle everything still manages to hang together, and well.

No. 5: it has a great ending. As I said, I won't give spoilers, but basically the mother takes the kid out of the car - and then she turns away and that's it. And then "FIN" across the screen. It's wonderful direction - had Dassin made her do anything, or filmed anything else, or inserted a close-up, or whatever, it would have totally ruined it. But here nothing speaks volumes (you have to watch the film and follow the story to know why). No reaction, no gesture, no nothing. And yet still achieves everything. A superb direction for a superb effect.