Screening of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 crime film 'Le Samouraï', with Alain Delon, presented by the Edinburgh Film Guild at the Institut français d'Écosse.
Le Samouraï screens at the Institut français d'Écosse on Friday 27 November, 6:00pm. It's Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 masterpiece, and it's being brought to the screen by the Edinburgh Film Guild in partnership with the Institut.
If you're not familiar with it, Le Samouraï is the one where Alain Delon gives a career-defining performance as a contract killer with samurai instincts. It's a razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American-style gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture, stirred in with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology. It's a film that takes its time, and it's best seen in a cinema rather than on a laptop.
Melville clearly inhaled American gangster films, but when he made his own, they weren't copies of Hollywood. Instead, they were infused with understatement and a sense of cool, playing like the chamber music of crime. That's exactly what you'll find here: a lean, disciplined piece of filmmaking that doesn't waste a frame. It's French with English subtitles, and it's rated 12.
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The screening is at the Institut français d'Écosse, West Parliament Square, EH1 1RN, which is a fully accessible venue with step-free access. The film runs for 105 minutes, so you'll be out well before the evening is over. It starts at 6:00pm on Friday 27 November.
