Rififi (2015) [Blu-ray]
Crime | Thriller

A twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious heist in the City of Lights. At once naturalistic and expressionistic, a melange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor.

Storyline: After five years in prison, Tony le Stéphanois meets his dearest friends Jo and the Italian Mario Ferrati and they invite Tony to steal a couple of jewels from the show-window of the famous jewelry Mappin & Webb Ltd, but he declines. Tony finds his former girlfriend Mado, who became the lover of the gangster owner of the night-club L' Âge d' Or Louis Grutter, and he humiliates her, beating on her back for being unfaithful. Then he calls Jo and Mario and proposes a burglary of the safe of the jewelry. They invite the Italian specialist in safes and elegant wolf Cesar to join their team and they plot a perfect heist. They are successful in their plan, but the Don Juan Cesar makes things go wrong when he gives a valuable ring to his mistress. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, December 19, 2013 -- Winner of Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jules Dassin's "Du rififi chez les hommes" a.k.a "Rififi" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival video interview with director Jules Dassin; English-language trailer for the film; and a collection of sketches by production designer Alexandre Trauner, cast photos, and production stills. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A few days after he is released from prison, Tony Le Stephanois (Jean Servais, Heroes and Sinners, He Who Must Die), a famous Parisian thief, is visited by his former partners Jo (Carl Mohner, The Last Bridge) and Mario (Robert Manuel, It Takes a Thief). They want to know if he might be interested in a job which, if handled right, would allow them to retire. They describe the job to Tony and he immediately agrees to help, though not because he is dying to get rich, but because the job sounds almost impossible to pull off. Shortly after, the thieves are joined by Cesar (Jules Dassin), an expert safe-cracker from Milan.

While getting ready for the job, Tony runs into his old girlfriend Mado (Marie Sabouret, Frou-Frou), who has started seeing an influential gangster named Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici, Mademoiselle Docteur). They head to his apartment where Tony leaves a few scars on her beautiful body and then kicks her out. Later on, Tony meets Pierre in his night club but decides not to confront him before his men.

A couple of days later, Tony, Jo, Mario, and Cesar hit one of the most prestigious jewel stores in Paris. Everything goes according to plan and they walk away with a bag full of diamonds worth millions of francs. They hide the diamonds and contact a man who could exchange them for cash. The same night, Cesar decides to have a little bit of fun with a beautiful singer from Pierre's club. He gives her a ring, which quickly ends up with one of Pierre's men.

Things become complicated when Pierre realizes what Tony and his friends have done but instead of informing the police kidnaps Jo's son and demands that they give him the diamonds. Tony warns Jo to stay cool and goes after Pierre's men.

A gangster film that has influenced generations of film directors around the world, Jules Dassin�s Rififi blends the intensity and elegance of film noir with the playfulness and exuberance of the nouvelle vague. Rififi is also a notably dark film in which innocence is in very short supply.

The robbery that takes place halfway through the film is legendary. It lasts approximately half an hour and it is completely devoid of dialog. The communication between the thieves is done through simple gestures and looks. When they finally enter the jewelry store and open the safe, the tension is almost unbearable.

As the story progresses, the film gets darker and grittier but not as fatalistic as it could have been. Eventually, the famous code of honor is also brought up, though it is not used to glamorize gangster lifestyle.

The cast is excellent. Servais is terrific as Tony, the quiet but dangerous thief who likes to be challenged and despises liars. It is always difficult to read him. Naturally, a lot of his decisions, especially during the final third of the film, are quite surprising.

Mohner and Manuel's protagonists give the film a sense of authenticity. They are simple, vulnerable men with big ambitions who decide to risk everything they have to get rich. Director Dassin also does not disappoint as the Milanese womanizer Cesar, who makes a crucial mistake.

Rififi is lensed by renowned French cinematographer Philippe Agostini (Robert Bresson's Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, Marcel Pagnol's Topaze). The film's soundtrack was composed by the great Georges Auric (Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear).

Note: In 1955, Rififi won Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

It is great to see that this classic French gangster film directed by Jules Dassin is finally coming to America. I think that a lot of younger film aficionados who have only heard about it will discover that it is indeed a very special film that deserves its reputation. Criterion's Blu-ray release of Rififi uses a transfer that is not identical to the one Arrow Films used for their excellent release a few years ago, but the film looks equally convincing in high-definition. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

[CSW] -3.7- There are literally hundreds of film noirs, many great ones, and for one to really stand out, it needs to have something special to offer: Rififi has several outstanding offerings, the most significant of course, being the centerpiece of the film: the 30-minute heist itself, filmed in near-silence, and completely enthralling from beginning to end. I enjoy heist movies, but most are so over-the-top they seem to require thieves of nearly superhuman abilities. And maybe with all the new security systems in place today, that is accurate, I don't know. The heist in Rififi however, though ingenious, is 100% believable, and therein lies much of it's fascination. Other pluses of this particular noir include the fact it's French, so there's no censorship, and it's filmed in interesting locations. These are shady, marginal figures engaged in shady, marginal undertakings so censorship undermines this genre more than many others, and it's a joy to have it removed. There are actually some shocking scenes, including a short scene of domestic violence that reveals the realities and attitude of the time period—simple, direct, and even in a sense “tasteful,” it would never be filmed today in such an offhanded way. And finally the noir aspect itself is impeccable—dark, shady, doomed, double-crossing criminal types, often with good intentions, but bad instincts—they are played perfectly in this little gem. French with subtitles, but remember, the best part of the film has no words at all, so this is a decent choice for those who hate subtitles.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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