Le Doulos – Review

Doulos is slang for hat, and in the verbiage of the criminal underworld it means police informant. Our twisting crime tale begins with Maurice Faugel (Reggiani) who is fresh out of prison and heading to his friend and fence Gilbert Varove’s (Lefèvre) home. The men talk, and Maurice asks for a gun and a bit of cash. He has a job planned with his criminal pals Silien (Belmondo) and Jean (March).

Things get a bit murder-y though, as Maurice winds up blasting away his pal Gilbert, and running out of the home with a heap of cash and jewels. Why did Maurice do this?! We may find out later… for now, Maurice finds a street lamp and buries the gun, cash and jewels under a somewhat thin layer of dirt. Then he goes about his business, heading to girlfriend Thérèse’s (Hennessy) place.

When Silien and Jean come to her place to talk to Maurice, things start to get shaky. They plan the robbery, but when Silien leaves, he calls his friend, and cop, Inspector Salignari (Crohem). Why is he doing this?? Maybe we’ll find out later… For now, we must watch as things go from hectic to pure chaos during the robbery that night. Bullets fly and tensions ratchet up. What is really going on here?!

Le Doulos is a pretty good winding crime story. While we see a lot of character actions, we really are not sure why everyone is behaving the way they are until pretty late in the film. As explanations come, most all of the actions finally make a lot of sense. This is part of the fun however, as it leaves plenty of question and mystery in the air as it proceeds. Who is really double crossing who, and is everything really as it seems?

This based on a book film is very well shot and the acting is sound also, as the criminals play off of each other nicely. Despite its 60s timeframe, the pacing is pretty good and it is never boring. The story may not be revolutionary by the end of the film, but the way it plays out is very well done. The characters are all believable criminals, and not nice guys, but this only amps up the tensions. Featuring some interesting progressions and a fun storytelling style, this dark crime noir is worth the time.

You have to choose: die… or lie?