''Two Men in Manhattan'' (french: Deux hommes dans Manhattan) is a 1959 French
film noir written and directed by
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville (; born Jean-Pierre Grumbach; 20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker and actor. Among his films are ''Le Silence de la mer'' (1949), '' Bob le flambeur'' (1956), ''Le Doulos'' (1962), '' Le Samouraï'' (19 ...
. It stars Melville and Pierre Grasset as two French journalists in New York City who are searching for a missing
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
diplomat. Although Melville occasionally played bit parts in the films of other directors (most notably the role of Parvulesco in
Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film ''
Breathless''), ''Two Men in Manhattan'' was his only starring role, and the only time he acted in one of his own films, other than providing the
off-screen narration for ''
Bob le flambeur
''Bob le flambeur'' (English translation": "Bob the Gambler" or "Bob the High Roller") is a 1956 French heist gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Roger Duchesne as Bob. It is often considered both a film noir and a pre ...
'' (1956).
Plot
The evening of December 23, Moreau, a reporter for
Agence France-Presse (AFP), is asked by his editor to find out why Fèvre-Berthier, the French delegate to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, did not attend that day's meeting of the
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...
. Moreau talks to McKimmie, an information officer at the UN, who does not know anything, but mentions Fèvre-Berthier's family is also trying to find the diplomat, and then Fèvre-Berthier's secretary, who suggests he may be with a woman, but does not know who or where.
At a dead end, Moreau asks his friend Delmas, an alcoholic
tabloid photographer, for help. Delmas has taken pictures of Fèvre-Berthier with three different women who are not his wife, so Moreau and Delmas set off to find out if Fèvre-Berthier is with one of them. They visit Judith Nelson, a stage actress, between the acts of a
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
play at the
Mercury Theater, Virginia Graham, a jazz singer, at a
Capitol Records recording studio, and Bessie Reed, a
burlesque dancer, at the Ridgewood
Rathskeller
Ratskeller (German: "council's cellar", pl. ''Ratskeller'', historically ''Rathskeller'') is a name in German-speaking countries for a bar or restaurant located in the basement of a city hall (''Rathaus'') or nearby. Many taverns, nightclubs, ba ...
, and even talk to Gloria, a high-end
call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
who "specializes in diplomats", at a French-Chinese-themed
brothel, but do not find Fèvre-Berthier. Dejected, they go to a diner, where they hear on the radio that Judith slit her wrists just after they left her.
Moreau and Delmas go to the hospital and manage to sneak into Judith's room. She tells Moreau that she tried to kill herself because she loved Fèvre-Berthier, but he is dead. When she begins to become hysterical and does not want to say any more, Delmas demands to know where Fèvre-Berthier is and how he died until he learns that Judith had found the diplomat dead in her apartment, presumably of a heart attack.
After taking a picture of Judith, Delmas steals her keys, and he and Moreau go to her apartment, where they find Fèvre-Berthier's corpse sitting up on a sofa. While Moreau calls his boss to give an update, Delmas moves the body to the bed so he can take a picture that will sell for more money, which shocks Moreau. Rouvier, Moreau's boss' boss, comes to the apartment and tells Delmas that Fèvre-Berthier was a hero of the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
and it will not be reported that he died in the apartment of his mistress. Unmoved by Rouvier's story, Delmas reluctantly gives Rouvier a roll of film after Moreau indicates he intends to take the pictures by force. The three men put Fèvre-Berthier in Rouvier's car and leave it to be found there.
Incensed, Delmas tells Moreau that he intends to recoup some of his losses by getting a picture of Fèvre-Berthier's wife right after he tells her that she is a widow. Moreau comes along so he can at least tell the woman gently, but, before he can say anything, Anne Fèvre-Berthier, the diplomat's daughter, enters and asks her mother to leave the room. Anne has been following Moreau since he left McKimmie's office, hoping he would lead her to her father. She knows about Fèvre-Berthier's affair with Judith, but says her mother does not.
Delmas abruptly runs away, and Moreau and Anne chase him. Realizing Delmas gave Rouvier a decoy roll of film, Moreau looks for Delmas at a photo lab, his apartment, and the offices of various newspapers and magazines. After searching for two hours, Moreau figures Delmas has probably already sold the pictures and will be celebrating with a drink at the Pike Slip Inn. He and Anne go there and find Delmas, who is very intoxicated. Moreau punches Delmas and leaves, and Anne, tears in her eyes, exchanges a look with Delmas before following.
Staggering out into the early-morning light, Delmas decides not to try to drive and begins to walk. He passes a storm drain and, after some consideration, pushes two rolls of film through the grate. As he walks away, he laughs to himself.
Cast
Production
The film was made for 65 million
French francs
The franc (, ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount ...
, which, though quite a small sum, was a significant increase over the budget of Melville's previous film, ''
Bob le flambeur
''Bob le flambeur'' (English translation": "Bob the Gambler" or "Bob the High Roller") is a 1956 French heist gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Roger Duchesne as Bob. It is often considered both a film noir and a pre ...
'' (1956). Filming took place between November 1958 and April 1959. After the exterior shots were filmed in New York, the interiors were filmed at the
Boulogne-Billancourt Studios in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
from February to April, with several French actors playing American characters. Although he was a lifelong Americanophile who incorporated American iconography and filmmaking tropes into his work throughout his career, Melville only shot parts of one other film, 1963's ''
Magnet of Doom
''Magnet of Doom'' (french: L'Aîné des Ferchaux, "The Elder Ferchaux"), also known as ''An Honorable Young Man'', is a 1963 Cinema of France, French film, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, based on the novel of the same title by Georges Simenon.
...
'', in the United States.
Release and reception
''Two Men in Manhattan'' was Melville's least successful film at the box office, managing to sell just 308,524 tickets, which was less than half that of ''Bob le Flambeur'' three years earlier. It received a mixed critical reception upon its release, with
Jean-Luc Godard and
Cahiers du Cinéma praising its evocative atmosphere and Melville's direction, but
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
and
L’Aurore criticizing it as a boring, poorly written excuse for Melville to indulge his fascination with America. Some of the criticism reflected an overall antipathy to the film's perceived place in the
French New Wave filmmaking movement, which began in the late 1950s.
There was a significant positive reappraisal of the film in 2013, when it was released on DVD and screened in New York and elsewhere. At this time,
Richard Brody
Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999.
Education
Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He firs ...
of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' described it as a "snappy and streetwise mystery" constructed around "a politically inspired and rigorously principled conflict pitting journalistic candor against what one character calls ‘the prestige of France.'" In
The Dissolve
''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...
, Scott Tobias wrote that the film "feels neither French nor American, but some beguiling combination of both," while praising its black-and-white cinematography and careful examination of the moral dilemma at its center.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Two Men In Manhattan
1959 films
French crime thriller films
1950s French-language films
Films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Films set in the United States
Foreign films set in the United States