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Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
What a pleasant surprise - Savant is attracted to a movie he knows nothing about, only because its
soundtrack theme sounded intriguing on an Ennio Morricone collection. Le Professionel turns out to
be an excellent thriller, a spy drama about a renegade agent that's exciting, funny, and intelligent
too.
Synopsis:
French assassin Joss Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) returns from the African republic of Malagasy,
where he's been imprisoned for two years because his own superiors turned him in to the Malagassic
authorities when they decided to abort his mission. Instantly his old department is mobilized to
eliminate him, but Beaumont is faster and smarter than all of them put together. He stops briefly
to see his wife Jeanne (Elisabeth Margoni) but tells her their relationship means nothing compared to
his planned revenge, which is to kill the original victim he was assigned two years ago, Malagassian
President Njala (Sidiki Bakaba). The minister (Jean Desailly) sets ruthless policeman commissaire
Rosen (Robert Hossein) on Beaumont's trail, and forces old friend Valeras (Michael Beaune) to
betray him; Beaumont avoids them all and gets unexpected help from a codebreaker in their own
department, Alice (Cyrielle Claire) and a hooker associate of Njala's (Marie-Christine Decouard).
Using his wits and fighting skills, Beaumont walks in and out of various traps, and even manages
to break into a castle surrounded by policemen, to carry out his mission.
Fast, clever and beholden to nothing done before, Le Professionel is a slick package, a spy
thriller that relies on brains instead of guns. Jean-Paul Belmondo has the years on him finally to
reflect a level of experience and weariness befitting a believable noir-ish hero, yet he's in superb
shape. There's a constant flow of fistfights and combat encounters in the picture, none of which are
hyped with cutting or music. Belmondo makes them all credible. There's also an impressive
car chase down some steps near the Eiffel Tower, a very effective game of hide 'n seek on the ledges
of a highrise apartment, and an assault on a guarded castle. Some of Belmondo's escapes are actually
of the, 'now I never would have thought of that' variety. To be fair, Belmondo is such a bruiser that
his solution to exiting a hotel room with two detectives outside is to just use the element of
surprise and rush them like a mad bull.
There's some good character work. Michael Beaune does a great job of finking on his old pal, and then
standing up to him in a very well written scene. Star Robert Hossein (who looks something like an evil
Perry Como, if you can picture that) is an excellent foe who's more ruthless than villainous; he
ends up in a Leone-like showdown with Belmondo that is all the more amazing because it works 100% -
two guys with guns waiting for the other to make a move.
Throughout all of this, Belmondo maintains a level of lightness with his ironic humor that keeps
Le Professionel from becoming a Point Blank - like existential downer. The women
who aid him also add to the fun, as they're sexy, defiant, and likeably independent from the
intelligence establishment that sends men out on treacherous missions, only to betray them when
political winds change their direction. Special mention needs to be made of a second string spy
thug named Farges (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) who keeps a consistent attitude despite being bested
and beaten by Belmondo at least four times in the picture. You can't help but like him by the end. Which is
how I felt about Le Professionel in general. Very good movie.
Image's DVD of Le Professionel is very plain-wrap. This is no liablilty because the show is
nicely selfcontained, and you don't walk away needing outside explanations or context (as you do with
Criterion's excellent Le Trou). The enhanced picture looks pristine, and the mysterious
score by Ennio Morricone, which sounds at first like it belongs in a sensitive love story instead
of a spy chase, sounds great. This is a surprise picture for people who like intelligent thrillers.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
La Professionel rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Good
Sound: Good
Supplements: None
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: November 2, 2001
DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson
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