''Le deuxième souffle'' () is a 1958 novel by the French writer

José Giovanni José Giovanni (22 June 1923, Paris, France – 24 April 2004, Lausanne, Switzerland) was the pseudonym of Joseph Damiani, a French writer and film-maker of Corsican origin who became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1986. A former collaborationi ...

Plot summary

It is about the aging French gangster Gustave "Gu" Minda who escapes from prison and becomes entangled in a plot to rob a security van in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. It was Giovanni's second novel and was published in the

Série noire Série noire is a French publishing imprint, founded in 1945 by Marcel Duhamel. It has released a collection of crime fiction of the hardboiled detective thrillers variety published by Gallimard. Anglo-American literature forms the bulk of ...

collection of

éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

Adaptations

The novel is the basis for the 1966 film '' Le deuxième souffle'' directed by

Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Grumbach (20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973), known professionally as Jean-Pierre Melville (), was a French filmmaker. Considered a spiritual godfather of the French New Wave, he was one of the first fully-independent French filmmake ...

and its 2007 remake ''

The Second Wind ''The Second Wind'' () is a 2007 French crime film directed by Alain Corneau and starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci. It is a remake of the 1966 film '' Le Deuxième Souffle''. Cast * Daniel Auteuil - Gustave 'Gu' Minda * Monica Belluc ...

'' directed by

Alain Corneau Alain Corneau (7 August 1943 – 30 August 2010) was a French film director and writer. Corneau was born in Meung-sur-Loire, Loiret. Originally a musician, he worked with Costa-Gavras as an assistant, which was also his first opportunity to work ...

References

1958 French novels Novels by José Giovanni French crime novels French-language novels French novels adapted into films Novels set in Marseille Éditions Gallimard books {{1950s-crime-novel-stub