Jean-Pierre Melville

Known for

Popular titles

Photos

More stills of Jean-Pierre Melville

Biography

A closer look

Read full biography

Jean-Pierre Grumbach (20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973), known professionally as Jean-Pierre Melville (French: [mɛlvil]), was a French filmmaker. Considered a spiritual father of the French New Wave, he was one of the first fully-independent French filmmakers to achieve commercial and critical success. His works include the crime dramas Bob le flambeur (1956), Le Doulos (1962), Le Samouraï (1967), and Le Cercle Rouge (1970), and the war films Le Silence de la mer (1949) and Army of Shadows (1969). Melville's subject matter and approach to filmmaking was heavily influenced by his service in the French Resistance during World War II, during which he adopted the pseudonym 'Melville' as a tribute to his favorite American author Herman Melville. He kept it as his stage name once the war was over. His sparse, existentialist but stylish approach to film noir and later neo-noir films, many of them in the crime dramas, have been highly influential to future generations of filmmakers. Roger Ebert appraised him as "one of the greatest directors." Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Pierre Melville, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

Movies and shows, newest first

2024
Delon-Melville, la solitude de deux samouraïs
Movie Self (archive footage)
2023
Les Rois de la comédie
Movie Self (archive footage)
2022
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
Movie
2021
Short Cuts : Le Cercle rouge de Jean-Pierre Melville
Movie Original Film Writer
2020
Melville, le dernier samouraï
Movie (archives)
2019
Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau
Movie Self (archive footage)
2018
Thlípsi
Movie Thanks
2018
Lino Ventura, la part intime
Movie Self (archive footage)
2017
Belmondo, le magnifique
Movie Self (archive footage)
2011
Melville-Delon: Honor and Night
Movie Self (archive footage)
2010
Code Name: Melville
Movie Self (archive footage)
2004
Their First Films
Movie Director
2003
The Good Thief
Movie Original Film Writer
1999
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Movie Thanks
1977
Urgent ou à quoi bon exécuter des projets puisque le projet est en lui-même une jouissance suffisante
Movie Self (archive footage)
1972
Un Flic
Movie Director

More credits

1972
Midi trente
TV show Self (archive footage)
1971
Jean-Pierre Melville: Portrait in 9 Poses
Movie Himself
1970
Le Cercle Rouge
Movie Director
1969
Army of Shadows
Movie Director
1967
Le Samouraï
Movie Director
1966
Le Deuxième Souffle
Movie Writer
1966
Jean-Pierre Melville on the Set of Le Deuxième Souffle
Movie Self - Interviewee
1963
Magnet of Doom
Movie Director
1963
Bluebeard
Movie Clemenceau's Aide
1962
Le Doulos
Movie Director
1962
Le Combat dans l'île
Movie Un membre de l'organisation (uncredited)
1962
Sign of the Lion
Movie Un Consommateur (uncredited)
1961
Léon Morin, Priest
Movie Director
1960
Breathless
Movie Parvulesco the Writer
1959
Two Men in Manhattan
Movie Moreau
1957
A Girl in a Pocket
Movie Commissioner
1956
Bob le Flambeur
Movie Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
1956
Cinépanorama
TV show Self
1953
When You Read This Letter
Movie Director
1950
Orpheus
Movie Hotel Manager (uncredited)
1950
The Strange Ones
Movie Director
1949
The Silence of the Sea
Movie Director
1946
24 Hours in the Life of a Clown
Movie Narrator (uncredited)