touchez pas au grisbi (jacques becker, 1954)

This is the nineteenth film I have watched in "My Letterboxd Season Challenge 2024-25", a "33-week-long community challenge" where "you must watch one previously unseen film that fits the criteria of the theme for the week." This is the 10th annual challenge, and my sixth time participating (previous years can be found at "2019-20", "2020-21", "2021-22", "2022-23", and 2023-24). Week 19 is called "Marty's Friends Week":

It was a huge deal when Martin Scorsese, father of famous TikToker Francesca Scorsese, joined Letterboxd. He also happens to be one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, with a career spanning around 60 years and surprisingly only 1 Oscar. He does have a Palme d'Or, making him the first winner to join Letterboxd, a club that now includes Sean Baker and Wim Wenders. If you're looking for a double feature or "companion" film to Taxi Driver or any of his other films, he has a list for you.

This week's challenge is to watch one of Martin Scorsese's Companion films, and for extra credit, make it a double feature with the corresponding Scorsese film.

Scorsese suggested pairing this film with The Irishman. He wrote, "It was all about the emotions of the characters, the friendships, the betrayals. It was about the gradual, inevitable unfolding. [It involved} very carefully, painstakingly planned criminal enterprises ... and in each one everything is very cool, deliberate, quiet throughout: even the violence and the betrayals happen quietly."

Grisbi is indeed cool and deliberate. Becker seems to be creating his own version of French noir here, with noble-but-flawed protagonists, nefarious women, and events that don't go as anticipated. The stakes feel low key, until they don't. Jean Gabin is perfect as the thief who is ready to retire ... he was pushing 50 when this film was made, his career had been in a slump, but his tired face touched audiences, and he entered another peak for his films. Besides Gabin, the cast is interesting, with Jeanne Moreau in an early performance, Italian Lino Ventura in his first film, even former Miss America Marilyn Buferd. The ensemble offers at least the illusion that the underworld we are seeing is accurately portrayed. Even Gabin, the big star, blends into the atmosphere.

It's the second film I've seen directed by Jacques Becker (I also saw the later Le Trou), and he is a solid, confident film maker based on those two movies. He was once an assistant to Jean Renoir, which isn't a bad way to learn a trade, and I think you can feel a similar affection for Becker's characters as that shown by Renoir. Grisbi is a bit better than Le Trou, I suppose, but while I don't want to damn with faint praise (for it is no insult to say Becker falls short of Renoir), neither film strikes me as a classic. Very good, worth seeing, and what's wrong with that?