Quentin Tarantino names his “favourite screenplay of all time”
When it comes to screenplays, Quentin Tarantino has been working on his craft even before he entertained dreams of becoming a filmmaker. Although he is now known as the creative visionary behind masterpieces such as Pulp Fiction, the American auteur initially wanted to make it as an actor before he realised he didn’t have much talent in that department.
Having attended acting classes during those early years, the Reservoir Dogs director quickly realised that he was much better at writing dialogue than delivering those lines. That has remained a fundamental aspect of all his films throughout his illustrious career, with his verbose scripts playing a significant role in dictating the cinematic rhythm.
Many fans and critics have often found clear associations between Tarantino’s influences and the visual language he often incorporates in his works. However, that extends to his writing style as well, which is informed by the legacies of his predecessors.
During a conversation with Film Comment, Tarantino singled out one particular work by the pioneering French New Wave figure Jean-Pierre Melville as an example of the kind of cinematic writing he favours. The film in question is the 1962 noir Le Doulous, starring the supremely talented Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Tarantino began: “Le Doulos has always been probably my favourite screenplay of all time—just from watching the movie. I just loved the wildness of watching a movie that, up until the last twenty minutes, I didn’t know what the fuck it was I was looking at. And the last twenty minutes explained it all. I was really fascinated by how, even though you don’t have any understanding about what’s going on in that first hour, you’re emotionally caught up in it.”
The filmmaker added: “I know when I go see a movie, and I start getting confused, I’m emotionally disconnected, I check out emotionally. For some reason, I don’t in Le Doulos… The first time you see it, you have no idea that mystery is gonna be solved as well as it is. That’s the joy of it—I’ve had faith in this movie all this time, and I had no idea my faith was gonna be paid back so well.”
Jean-Pierre Melville’s crime movies are mesmerisingly brilliant additions to the French New Wave’s body of work, especially some of his more well-known masterpieces, such as Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge. While Le Doulous feels minor in comparison, it’s still the creation of a master at the top of his game, playing around with familiar noir themes of secrets, violence and betrayals.
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