Customer Reviews

Le Professionnel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Feeling a little nostalgic for the movies I grew up with back in the USSR, I bought Le Professionel DVD from Amazon. I was looking so much forward to see this action movie and Belmondo whose movies I used to watch dozens of times in my childhood. What a frustration!!! Very bad PAL->NTSC conversion (many visible artifacts), extremely bad video transfer/encoding on DVD disc (blurry image), all audio tracks are mono, moreover they are poorly recorded which does not do justice to the famous Morricone theme. As much as I love the actor and the movie I do not recommend buying it. Shame on Image Entertainment for such a horrid DVD release.

Jean-Paul Belmondo was often referred to as the "French Bogart" during much of the New Wave era in foreign cinema. After starring in classics such as Breathless and The Man From Rio, one could understand the comparison although each actor adopted a very different screen persona. Belmondo has always favored a lighter, humorous approach. By 1981, France had entered the "gritty antihero" phase long employed by Belmondo's American contemporaries Clint Eastwood and the late Steve McQueen. Of the movies produced during this period, Le Professionnel stands out as his best effort. Based on Patrick Alexander's 1976 novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal, the film version stars Belmondo as Joss Beaumont, a French government agent sent to assassinate a military dictator in the fictional African nation of Malagawi. Political winds quickly begin blowing in the opposite direction though, leaving Beaumont literally hanging out to dry. After making an easy escape from captivity, the now slightly unhinged professional decides to complete his mission while exacting payback on his former employers. By the end of the film he also manages to have not one, but three different women longing for his companionship.

The cast here is a huge plus. Former film director Robert Hossein is the sadistic Commissioner Rosen, who is obsessed with terminating Beaumont at any cost. The late Michel Beaune portrays Beaumont's sympathetic friend, Captain Valeras. Cyrielle Clair, Elisabeth Margoni, and Marie-Christine Descouard are Belmondo's love interests, with each woman adding their own take on their relationship with Beaumont. Jean-Louis Richard and Jean Desailly round things out as Beaumont's more hesitant pursuers. Director Georges Lautner is heavily influenced by Sergio Leone here, with frequent close-ups of the actors done in Leone's highly innovative style. This works very much in his favor, in particular during Beaumont and Rosen's Leone-inspired duel scene. (Belmondo was once a boxer, so his rugged features add much to the character.) Lautner is aided by Oscar-winning composer and frequent Leone collaborator Ennio Morricone, who provided a haunting score with the creation of Chi Mai for this film. It is possibly Morricone's best known work next to the theme music for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Chi Mai is an enchanting, beautiful, and melancholic piece that suits both Beaumont's quest and his final fate quite superbly.

I own two different versions of this film: In French, with either English subtitles or Spanish dubbing. They were likely taken off European PAL releases so I can't vouch for the quality of any Region 1 transfers as the DVD is currently unavailable in this country. Even so, I highly recommend it to cinema lovers on both sides of the pond. If you manage to obtain a non-regional print that plays on a PC or video game console, please do not hesitate. It's not a long film and the plot is anything but convoluted. There is a very brief nude scene on Margony's part but no explicit sex or violence. That's not what Belmondo's films are about. Instead, he mixes action and drama with an inimitable knack for levity. He also performs his own stunts as in many previous movies. Much of the younger Belmondo of the 50's and 60's is still present here, echoing the charming daredevil of times gone by.

On a personal note, I have watched this movie several times over and it is among my top 5 favorite films of all time. Morricone's Chi Mai plays frequently on my blog. I was even lucky enough to obtain Belmondo's personal signature on a vintage poster advertising the film along with two photo cards. They are framed atop my desk as I write this review and I consider them rare gems among my autograph collection. Seek out this movie and enjoy it! You're likely to consider it well worth your time.

The plot revolves around the fact that French agent, Joss Baumont, is sent by his government to assassinate a ruthless and oppressive African dictator. Unfortunately, before his mission can be completed, the French decide that the dictator might be a useful ally; consequently, Baumont is "sacrificed" by his own agency and betrayed to the dictator's police. Baumont is imprisoned in a brutal African labor camp for two years, before he manages to escape. What follows next is a sort of vendetta against the African dictator and his former associates in the French secret service. Upon his escape, Baumont acts rather like a character without a soul, in that he seems completely indifferent to his ultimate fate. He proceeds to France with the intention of killing the African dictator (who conveniently has a scheduled state visit in Paris);however, he cannot resist the temptation to notify his former French colleagues of his plans. Naturally, what ensues is a game of cat and mouse, in which Baumont generally outwits his former comrades (who are now responsible for protecting the dictator during his state visit). Baumont does receive some assistance with his plans from his wife and from a few assorted characters;
however, he is largely on his own as he attempts to penetrate the security around the dictator. His most persistent antagonist is an unscrupulous police inspector named
Rosen. Rosen is not the least bit reluctant to sanction almost any method which yields the desired result-- the capture or killing of Baumont. This story has elements of humor, notably the scenes involving a prositute and her client and what amounts to an almost Wild West type of gunfight between Baumont and Rosen. Ultimately, a certain measure of justice prevails in that some of the most villainous characters suffer a well deserved demise. However, the ending of the story (while predictable) is somewhat unsatisfying--- as the viewer is left only with an empty feeling regarding the pointlessness and futility of Baumont's fatal choices. Still, this film is worth viewing and owning for any true Belmondo fan. On the whole, it was more entertaining than some French films which have been more critically acclaimed.

One of Belmondo's biggest hits and featuring a memorable Ennio Morricone theme (Chi Mai) that also entered the UK top ten as the main title to BBC TV series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, 1981's Le Professionnel veers between good and bad. Introducing himself as "Joss Beaumont, espionage and brawls," it's not a bad description of the film itself. Sold out - or rather given away - by the French government that sent him before he could kill an African dictator, he escapes from prison and returns to France to finish off the job during a state visit from the corrupt politician, all the time goading the French secret services in an increasingly schizophrenic tale. On the one hand it's the kind of film that will throw in wildly over the top racist commanders, a lesbian threatening his wife with a bar of soap and a gunfight straight out of a Western with Robert Hossein's stone-cold government agent. Yet it's also smart enough to throw in a neat twist as to exactly how he plans to accomplish his hit and aware enough not to turn the dictator into a complete cartoon - having spent years in jail himself, he enjoys having the upper hand in negotiations with the French and even points out that they had three revolutions and five republics before settling on a civilised form of government but expect Africa to get it right in one. The pluses outweigh the minuses, and the Australian DVD includes both subtitled French soundtrack and dubbed English in a decent widescreen transfer, but no extras. (The French DVD has unsubtitled extras but only a dubbed English language option.)

I have seen this movie I think in the late 80s or early 90s. I have been looking around for this movie and I finally find it here. It is a great movie one of a kind. Belmondo did a great job. I had the theme song stuck in my head for so long and I finally I have to hear it again. I would suggest that every classic movie lovers should definitely watch this movie. Well, for me I'm going to watch it again for the N times...

I always liked Belmondo. It's been awhile since I saw one of his movies - I enjoyed every minute of it. Lionsgate did a fantastic job with this movie, the transfer is very crisp for a DVD. Highly recommended.

You simply have to prepare yourself. This is like a 70's spy version of a spaghetti western.

It's not bad. It's not really that good. Complete with overacting and almost comical fight scenes, yet the plot is actually pretty good and the ending....
Mr. Macho Professional doesn't fail to annoy you at the ending where you can see
a totally different ending happening.

I saw this film when I was very young, at the cinema, and still
remembered the glorious ending. This film is perfect in its genre. Like
a 007 but with heart, sociological undertones and humour.

Like when the big bosses of the system look at the city from above
their crystal palaces, and the first people who help our hero are the
clochards/ beggars. Which are no saints, but whose materialism "what is
it there for me?" seems honorable by comparison to the chiefs.

Of course Belmondo is the best, and Morricone's score can't be
improved.
The script by Jacques Audiard has not one word that should't be there, like Poe's famous dictum.

The passage of time: This film didn't loose any power with time. On the
contrary, I feel it wouldn't be possible to make it now. Maybe it was
the simple technology, the vague appeal to honour, and the political
incorrectness. Like when Beaumont's chief, the hooker and cops speak of
the president of an African state as "le negre".

Josselin has a way with words, with people and strategically.
Instructor Picard goes to the point when says that "he's got the
whites" = always takes the initiative. This film is about mental games
when outnumbered and out resourced. As such, it could be given in a
course of strategy.

Whereas its imitators rely on the action scenes like "Bourne identity",
riches and gadgets (007) here life is mean and meaningless. Even a
genius like Beaumont can achieve little against a corrupt and
inefficient system.

Somebody could make a study of the use of the telescopic lenses on the
rifle. He who has it wins? Not necessarily so! But the three times it's
being used, people fall like flies, like if death didn't inflict any
pain.

Morals: Beaumont has no friends, and he barely believes in his wife or
his mistress, let alone his "friend". His nemesis, Le président N'Jala,
is pragmatical as him, but follows some codes: "I didn't kill you
because I wanted to exchange you for something". As is Robert Hossein
as Le commissaire Rosen. Somebody as hard boiled as himself, no less.
The "prisonnier évadé" also has moral. As, paradoxically, Doris
Frederiksen, the stunning prostitute (I can't say more, but the ending
proves it). I'd liked more character development of Jeanne Baumont and
Salvatore Volfoni, his pal. Rosen always drawing sketches, at important
meetings or when interviewing his wife, proves he cared for nobody, it
was just another way of showing his superiority (in his perspective).
Like when he said of Volfoni, whom he just used as a bait, "I pity
him".

I agree with IMDb's reviewer from Bochum, Germany that: "Today no one
makes movies like this any more...". I was thinking about who could
impersonate Joss now? Matt Damon in "The Bourne identity", as suggested
by Amazon reviewer Hiram Gomez Pardo? Bradd Pitt :)?

Definitely time doesn't always bring about progress...

PS: Everyone will have its favourite quote with such a film. Mine
probably would be the Instructor Picard again when he extols his
pupils' virtues: "I'd like my son to be like him" and Le ministre,
still insomniac, answer: "Ok, very moving, but it doesn't solve our
problem".

Josselin Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo), agent for the Special Action Service, a shadowy French government agency, is sent to the African country of Malagasi to kill Colonel Njala, its president-for-life. Political considerations suddenly change and the assassination is called off. Instead of recalling Beaumont, his masters decide to betray him to secure a good relationship with the president-for-life. And the president-for-life intends to show his compassion for a beaten man by only giving Joss a life sentence. First, of course, Joss must be turned into a beaten man, through brutality, torture and hard time. After two years, plenty of time to figure out he was betrayed, Joss breaks out and returns to France. And there he informs his former masters that he's going to complete the assignment while Njala is in France on a state visit. Try and stop me, is his message.

A warning: This is one of those movies where the creators think that what is basically a thriller can be turned into "serious contemporary drama" by having a meaningful and ironic ending. That corny and self-important assumption has made so many movies -- American, French and whatever -- seem as dated and unsatisfying as The Parallax View.

The movie really starts when Joss gets back to Paris. The high-level bureaucrats are scurrying about, more frightened for their careers if Joss succeeds than they are for Malagasi's president-for-life's life. They know Joss has been trained by the best...he's quick, resourceful, humorous, tough and clever. (After all, he's Jean-Paul Belmondo). So just who is going to stop him, asks the minister at a meeting of senior executives of the Special Action Service? There's a long pause. Men look nervously at each other. Then..."I will," speaks up Commissioner Rosen (Robert Hossein) of the government's Intervention Bureau. Rosen is as tough and smart as Joss, and much more ruthless.

Wait a minute. Is this a thriller with some humor or a cartoon with some thrills? It turns out Le Professionel is both, with a bit of how-awful-governments-can-be moralizing thrown in. Part of the time the movie is engrossing with a clever plot; part of the time I couldn't help snickering over how over-played some of the characters were. The dialogue moves between the two. Enrico Morricone's obvious score doesn't help.

With Le Professionel, however, the ride with Belmondo in the driver's seat is almost worth it. Belmondo, 48 when the movie was made, is one of those actors who look their increasing years and benefit from them. Even at his youngest he was no pretty boy, not with that long face, underslung jaw, thick lips and deep lines bracketing his mouth. If he is sometimes called (by Americans) the French Bogart, it would be equally true to call Bogart the American Belmondo.

The Region 1 Image video transfer is better than so-so, and doesn't get in the way of enjoying (or not enjoying) the movie. There are no extras.

Fantastic movie. Very believable characters, nice acting for the most part, great score by Morricone. Numerous unforgettable classic scenes -- enough for several years' worth of Hollywood production.

One of the best French movies. Can watch over and over.

The DVD is very good. Nice quality, French / English soundtracks, subtitles. The English translation is inferior to the French original, though.