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Melville's subject matter and approach to filmmaking was heavily influenced by his service in the [[French Resistance]] during [[World War II]], during which he adopted the pseudonym 'Melville' as a tribute to his favorite American author [[Herman Melville]].<ref>Breitbart, 180.</ref> He kept it as his stage name once the war was over.
His sparse, [[existential]]ist but stylish approach to [[film noir]] and later [[neo-noir]] films, many of them in the [[Crime film|crime dramas]], have been highly influential to future generations of filmmakers.<ref name=":1" /> [[Roger Ebert]] appraised him as "one of the greatest directors."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Army of Shadows movie review &
==Biography==
=== Early years ===
'''Jean-Pierre Grumbach''' was born in 1917 in [[Paris]], the son of [[History of the Jews in Alsace|Alsatian Jewish]] parents Berthe and Jules Grumbach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lisa90.org/lisa1/genealogies/tree_hor.php?lang=fr&n_tr=2 |title=Arbre |publisher=Lisa90.org |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> His father was a rag merchant; the family lived in ninth-[[arrondissement]] of Paris. His eldest brother Jacques wrote for the Socialist Party weekly [[Le Populaire (French newspaper)|''Le Populaire'']].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Shatz |first=Adam |date=20 June 2019 |title=Who does that for anyone? |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n12/adam-shatz/who-does-that-for-anyone |journal=London Review of Books |volume=41 |issue=12 |issn=0260-9592 |access-date=18 May 2023}}</ref>
Grumbach left school at 17 working as a courier and then a wedding photographer. In 1937, he joined the Communist Party, but left in 1939 over the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|
=== World War II and resistance activity ===
After the fall of France in 1940 during [[World War II]], during which he was [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuated from Dunkirk]] as a soldier in the [[French Army]], Grumbach entered the [[French Resistance]] to oppose the German [[Nazis]] who occupied the country.<ref name="Lane">{{cite news|url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/jean-pierre-melvilles-cinema-of-resistance|title = Jean-Pierre Melville's Cinema of Resistance|magazine = [[The New Yorker]]|last = Lane|first = Anthony|authorlink = Anthony Lane|date = 1 May 2017|accessdate = 3 August 2022|url-access = limited}}</ref> He adopted the ''nom de guerre'' 'Melville' after the American author [[Herman Melville]], a favourite of his.<ref name="Lane" /> His brother Jacques and his sister Janine also joined the Resistance.<ref name=":0" />
In 1942, both Jean-Pierre and Jacques crossed the Pyrenees and headed for neutral Spain where they would then try to reach Britain and the Free French Army. They crossed separately several weeks apart. Jacques was carrying money intended for [[Charles de Gaulle|de Gaulle]]; he was shot dead and robbed by his guide. Jean-Pierre did not find out that his brother had been killed until the war ended.
=== Filmmaking career ===
When he returned from the war, he applied for a license to become an assistant director but was refused. Without this support, he decided to direct his films by his own means, and continued to use Melville as his stage name. He became an independent filmmaker and owned his own studio, rue Jenner, in [[13th arrondissement of Paris|Paris 13ème]].<ref>[http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1042590%7C0/TCM-Imports-for-November.html Silence of the Sea-TCM.com]</ref> On 29 June 1967, the studio and Melville's apartment burnt down. His personal archive of photographs and scripts was destroyed.<ref name=":0" />
He became well known for his minimalist [[film noir]], such as ''[[Le Doulos]]'' (1962), ''[[Le Samouraï]]'' (1967) and ''[[Le Cercle rouge]]'' (1970), starring major actors such as [[Alain Delon]] (probably the definitive "Melvillian" actor), [[Jean-Paul Belmondo]] and [[Lino Ventura]]. Influenced by American cinema, especially gangster films of the 1930s and 1940s,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/jean-pierre-melville-life-and-work-of-a-groundbreaking-filmmaking-poet/|title=Jean-Pierre Melville: Life and Work of a Groundbreaking Filmmaking Poet • Cinephilia & Beyond|date=11 April 2017|work=Cinephilia & Beyond|access-date=18 June 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> he used accessories such as weapons, clothes (trench coats), and fedora hats, to shape a characteristic look in his movies. He also displayed an interest in Eastern philosophies and martial traditions, as demonstrated in ''Le Samouraï'' and ''Le Cercle rouge
Melville ultimately became so identified with the style that ''[[The New Yorker]]''{{'}}s [[Anthony Lane]] wrote the following about a 2017 retrospective of his films:<ref name = Lane/> <blockquote>This is how you should attend the forthcoming retrospective of Jean-Pierre Melville movies at Film Forum: Tell nobody what you are doing. Even your loved ones—especially your loved ones—must be kept in the dark. If it comes to a choice between smoking and talking, smoke. Dress well but without ostentation. Wear a raincoat, buttoned and belted, regardless of whether there is rain. Any revolver should be kept, until you need it, in the pocket of the coat. Finally, before you leave home, put your hat on. If you don't have a hat, you can't go.</blockquote>
In 1963, he was invited as one of the jury at the [[13th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="berlinale 1963">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1963/04_jury_1963/04_Jury_1963.html |title=Berlinale: Juries |access-date=13 February 2010 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref>
For several years, he sat on the executive board of the French film classication board, the Commission de classification des œuvres cinématographiques, of the [[Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée]] (CNC).{{cn|date=June 2024}}
== Personal life ==
Melville was married to his wife, Florence, from 1952 until his death. She worked as a producer on ''[[Two Men in Manhattan]]''.
Although a friend of left-wing icons such as [[Jean-Luc Godard|Godard]] and [[Yves Montand]] and thought of himself as a communist in the
=== Death ===
[[File:Jean-pierre-melville-tombe.jpg|thumb|Melville's grave at a cemetery in [[Pantin]]]]
Melville died on 2 August 1973 while dining with writer [[Philippe Labro]] at the Hôtel PLM Saint-Jacques restaurant in Paris; the cause of death has been variously given as a heart attack or a ruptured aneurysm.<ref name = Lane/><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/03/archives/jeanpierre-melville-is-dead-french-film-director-was-55-a-cowboy.html|title =
At the time, Melville was then writing his next film, ''Contre-enquête'', a spy thriller for producer Jacques-Éric Strauss with [[Yves Montand]] in the lead. Melville apparently wrote the first 200 shots for the film. After Melville's death, Labro took over the project, hoping to finish writing and direct it, but he eventually dropped it to film ''Le hasard et la violence'' (1974), also starring Montand and for producer Strauss.<ref>Bertrand Tessier, ''Jean-Pierre Melville le solitaire'', foreword Philippe Labro, Fayard, Paris, 2017.</ref>
== Influence ==
[[File:Plaque Jean-Pierre Melville.jpg|thumb|Plaque commemorating Melville]]
Melville's independence and "reporting" style of film-making (he was one of the first French directors to use real locations regularly) were a major influence on the [[French New Wave]] film movement. [[Jean-Luc Godard]] used him as a minor character in his seminal New Wave film ''[[Breathless (1960 film)|Breathless]]''. When Godard was having difficulty editing the film, Melville suggested that he just cut directly to the best parts of a shot. Godard was inspired and the film's innovative use of [[jump cuts]] have become part of its fame.<ref name="Buffalo" /> In an interview, Melville claimed editing was his favorite part of the filmmaking process along with writing.<ref>Melville 1970 interview, on Youtube</ref>
Melville's approach to film noir and the crime film genre, with its emphasis
Other directors influenced by Melville include [[Martin Scorsese]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-04 |title=The films that inspired Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-films-that-inspired-martin-scorseses-the-irishman/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=faroutmagazine.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Friel |first=Patrick |date=2018-07-31 |title=Jean-Pierre Melville's brooding cinema surveyed on FilmStruck |url=http://chicagoreader.com/blogs/jean-pierre-melvilles-brooding-cinema-surveyed-on-filmstruck/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Quentin Tarantino]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tarantino on His Influences: If You Love Cinema You Can't Help but Make a Good Movie |url=https://nofilmschool.com/2013/07/tarantino-on-his-influences |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=nofilmschool.com |language=en}}</ref> [[Walter Hill]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patterson |first=John |date=2014-07-17 |title=Walter Hill: a life in the fast lane |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/17/walter-hill-action-movie-interview |access-date=2023-08-07 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[Johnnie To]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Where to begin with Johnnie To |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-johnnie-to |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Modern Cinema: Johnnie To |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/event/series/modern-cinema-johnnie-to/ |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=SFMOMA |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Takeshi Kitano]],<ref>{{Cite
==Filmography==
=== As director & writer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
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==Further reading==
* Mann, Philip. ''The Dandy at Dusk: Taste and Melancholy in the Twentieth Century''. London: Head of Zeus, 2017. {{ISBN|978-1-78669-517-8}}
* [[Ginette Vincendeau]] ''Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris'', 2003, BFI Publishing, {{ISBN|0-85170-949-4}}
* [[Tim Palmer (record producer)|Tim Palmer]] "An Amateur of Quality: Postwar Cinema and Jean-Pierre Melville's LE SILENCE DE LA MER," ''Journal of Film and Video'', 59:4, Fall 2006, pp. 3–19
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* [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/frenchbib.html#melville Bibliography of books and articles about Melville] via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
* [http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/jean-pierre-melville.shtml Biography on newwavefilm.com]
* [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/sff8-a15.shtml Jean-Pierre Melville ''World Socialist Web Site
* [http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/melville/ Article at Senses of Cinema]
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[[Category:Film directors from Paris]]
[[Category:French Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Jewish film people]]
[[Category:French male film actors]]
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[[Category:French Resistance members]]
[[Category:Jews in the French resistance]]
[[Category:Counterculture of the 1960s]]
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