"I move from realism to fantasy without the spectator ever realising” - Jean-Pierre Melville

To tie in with August’s re-release of Le Doulos and September's release of Bertrand Tavernier's Journey Through French Cinema, our Sunday Brunches in September mark the centennial of the birth of one of France’s most revered and proudly independent filmmakers – the magnificent Jean Pierre Melville.

A former French resistance fighter turned filmmaker, Jean Pierre Melville (1917-1973) made a total of 13 features during an exemplary 25 year career. His laconic, subversive and elegantly cool gangster films were a major influence on post-1960’s crime cinema (including Quentin Tarrantino and Michael Mann) while such early works as Bob le Flambeur qualify as direct precursors to the French New Wave.

With an abiding interest in loyalty and betrayal, honour and dignity, his films had an instinctive sympathy for the outsider. A filmmaker of immense versatility and artistic ambition, join us to rediscover a selection of some of the finest works from one of cinema’s true originals.

• For further insight into the themes in the work of John Pierre Melville, check out this video essay To Become Immortal... and Then Die by 20th Century Flicks' Jonathan Bygraves.

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