Du rififi chez les hommes

Du rififi chez les hommes

After five years in prison, Tony teams up with three accomplices to plan the perfect heist: the burglary of a famous Parisian jewelry story. The robbery is successful, but when they cross paths with another gang, the foursome gets into trouble.

 

« Ce qui m’intéresse, c’est la vérité, et je crois la trouver dans le cadre du documentaire, mais une certaine poésie doit compléter le côté documentaire. »

Jules Dassin1

 

“As for Rififi, I’ll tell you frankly that I never would have made it if I hadn’t needed the money desperately, and been workless for so long. There are really only the last three minutes of the film that I like and think are any good.”

Jules Dassin2

 

“From the worst pulp novel I’ve ever read, Dassin has created the best film noir I’ve ever seen.”

François Truffaut3

 

“Where ‘scientific objectivity’ is concerned, it would appear that the burglary techniques used in Rififi are old hat, and that the blending of the rules of savoir faire as practised in French criminal circles with mores imported from the States is out of touch with reality. What matter. The film arouses an overwhelming impression of truthfulness, it rises to a truly human universality. In this respect it is in line with the most prominent ambition of present-day cinema.”

Jacques Guicharnaud4

  • 1Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut, “Entretien avec Jules Dassin,” Cahiers du cinéma 8, nr. 47 (1955): 12.
  • 2"Jules Dassin: an interview with Cynthia Grenier," Sight & Sound 27, nr. 3 (1957–58): 141–43
  • 3François Truffaut, “Du rififi chez les hommes,” Arts, April 1955.
  • 4Jacques Guicharnaud, "Of Grisbi, Chnouf and Rififi," Yale French Studies, 17 (1956): 6-13.
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UPDATED ON 10.11.2023