Don’t even think for a second that I’m trying to do American style films in France. Perhaps one day you will have proof of this when, as I hope in any case, I have a go – and it will be done in order to be seen – at an American experience. In that case I will dress up like an American filmmaker.

Jean-Pierre Melville

Unknown until 1996, this portrait of Jean-Pierre Melville was made at the height of his glory in 1970. A portrait in nine shots. We discover step by step the journey that led him from Le silence de le mer (1947) and Les enfants terribles (1950) to Le cercle rouge (The Red Circle), which he shows the first images of for that particular occasion.