Army of Shadows: Jean-Pierre Melville’s ode to the French Resistance

ARMY OF SHADOWS © STUDIOCANAL

Remember Army of Shadows? Here are three good reasons to watch Jean-Pierre Melville‘s masterpiece again, in this lovingly restored copy of the film adapted from Joseph Kessel’s novel, screened this year at Cannes Classics.

Because Jean-Pierre Melville was a resistant film-maker

1942. After heading to London where he took on his pseudonym in tribute to Moby Dick author Hermann Melville, Jean-Pierre Melville returned to France to join the Resistance movement in Castres, and fought in Operation Dragoon. He also took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino assaults in 1944. Following this episode in his life, the director became obsessed with a single idea: bringing the French Resistance to the big screen, and making it in the film industry, whatever the cost. Fellow resistant Joseph Kessel had published Army of Shadows (1943) in the meantime, a deep dive into day-to-day clandestine living in the fight against the Nazi occupiers. Melville set his sights on the journalist’s novel, with plans of adapting it for the silver screen. It took Melville twenty-six years to bring his plans to fruition and raise the funds needed to finally make the film.

 

Because Army of Shadows is a feature film about war…in colour

In a bid to move away from more novelistic retellings of the war, Jean-Pierre Melville decided to shoot his film in colour, and called on director of photography Pierre Lhomme, who would go on to admit that filming was ‘a daily challenge’ for him due to the film-maker’s exacting approach. The technician did, however, concede that his tunnel vision is what ensured the film’s unique palette of greys was achieved.

 

Because of Lino Ventura‘s epic performance

At the time, Jean-Pierre Melville’s heart was set on having Lino Ventura as his protagonist. The pair had just finished filming Second Breath together, where the actor had played the lead, Gerbier. Ventura brings to life a resistant fighter in an internment camp, who manages to escape while being transferred to Gestapo headquarters. With his impassive expressions and clenched jaw, Lino Ventura gives the performance of a lifetime, allowing each torturous inner dilemma to flit across his features, possibly a natural consequence of the on-set atmosphere: things were very tense between the actor and the authoritarian director, with both men avoiding speaking to one another directly while filming.

Presented by Studiocanal with the CNC’s support. 4K restoration from the Original 35mm and sound negatives operated by Image Retrouvée. Released in cinemas across France on 5 June by Carlotta Films.

Attended by catalogue director Juliette Hochart and Thierry Lacaze, director of video, VOD and cinema distribution, Studiocanal.