Notable for its cold,nce, Melville's crime cinema was both thrilling and existentialist. Writer and lecturer Geoff Andrew curated a season at the BFI in 2017 dedicated to the director and his unique position in French cinema. Unlike the New Wave pioneers, "Melville was emphatically not a realist, but a fabulist, a moralist and a stylist," Andrew tells BBC Culture. The director evidently stood alone.
