Le cercle rouge

This is only the second film I've checked out on IMDB and both have had negative user comments. In this case the person contributing comments was a tad chauvinistic and appeared to be strongly biased against French movies. I am English and can't get enough of French movies,but I also can't get enough of GOOD movies, be they English, American, French, Italian, whatever. Whichever way you slice it Le Cercle Rouge is a masterpiece, shot by a director at, as the cliche has it, the height of his powers. Cool, stylish, slick, professional,call it what you will, it's a winner. Everyone is on top of their game,not least Bourvil in a rare attempt at straight acting - he is best known as a zany comic in a series of box office smashes that don't translate well into English. The Melville schtick, a set-piece, is a doozy this time around, a jewellery heist on the Place Vendome, carried out in total silence in a nod to Rififfi and if anything surpassing it. The sombre,muted tones, embody the sense of cool and also the melancholy that informs the film making anything other than a downbeat ending unthinkable. Like the man said, if you only see one movie this year make it this one.