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I’d never watched anything that Alain Delon starred in. I knew he was quite the figure in European cinema, so the recently released Alain Delon Collectionwas something I was interested in checking out.

How’s it all stack up?  Let’s see:

The Swimming Pool (La Pischine) is first up, the story of the idle rich spending a vacation at a small villa.  Jean-Paul (Delon) and wife Marianne (Romy Schneider) have the detached cool of a relationship on the edge when their friend Harry (Maurice Ronet) blows into town with his teen daughter in tow.  Harry’s former relationship with Marianne weighs on Jean-Paul’s mind even as he schemes to hook up with Penelope (Jane Birkin), the teen daughter and forbidden fruit of the film.  The already tense situation becomes deadly with very little provocation, though the characters all seem to be floating through their lives, so it’s hard to get very involved in their plight.  Delon and Schnieder were actually a couple at the time the film was made, if that sort of trivia interests you.

Diabolically Yours (Diaboliquement vôtre), directed by Julien Duvivier is an interesting little ‘thriller’, though is too slow moving to really qualify as one.  Georges Campo (Delon) has survived a car accident that left his wife Christiane (Senta Berger) without a scratch, but he awakes from a coma with amnesia.  Returned to his lavish estate, nothing seems to jog his memory, not the arrival of their best friend Freddie (Sergio Fantoni), nor the company of their houseman Kim (Peter Mosbacher).  Strange accidents lead Georges to suspect that someone is trying to kill him, and he suffers from maddening dreams that leave him feeling paranoid and suspicious of everyone around him.  Kim in particular has a very odd relationship with Christiane, and exactly why is Freddie constantly hanging around? The film is a very slow burn, but also quite watchable.

Pierre Granier-Deferre’s The Widow Couderc (Veuve Couderc, La) casts Delon as Jean Levigne, a stranger who meets the titular Widow Couderc (Simone Signoret) as she gets off the bus and offers to help her move the bulky incubator she’s purchased back to her home.  The house she owns beside the canal looks on that of her in-laws on the opposite bank, and there’s no love lost between the two households.  Jean strikes up an unlikely romance with the older woman, in spite of his obvious interest in her niece across the canal, the lovely Félicie (Ottavia Piccolo).  More of a melodrama than either of the films that preceded it, this also moves along at a rather languid pace. But the more disturbing element is the May/December romance between Delon and Signoret, as she’s certainly not very easy on the eyes.  Also worth noting is the silly looking mustache that Delon sports for half the film.

The Gypsy (Le Gitan) is by far the most involved film of the set, plot-wise.  Directed by José Giovanni, it’s a crime saga in which a criminal named Hugo Sennart, alias The Gypsy (Delon) is something of a Robin Hood figure, stealing from government organizations to help his people in their little shanty towns on the outskirts of the city.  On the lam and committing more crimes to fund their cause, the Gypsy and the two men he escaped prison with find their fates entwined with another criminal named Yann Cuq (Paul Meurisse), a safe cracker.  Having just completed a job, Cuq returns home to find his girlfriend in the middle of a suspicious phone call to her lover, who just so happens to be an undercover policeman.  When their argument ultimately ends with her dead by an accident, Cuq finds himself in hot water because of the police’s suspicions about his recent heist as well as the body outside his apartment building.  His path and The Gypsy’s cross again and again, in an almost comical manner, as the police close their nets around both career criminals, both of whom assume the cops are after them when they are usually looking for the other man entirely.  This feels like two films sandwiched together, but surprisingly was the most engaging of the movies in the set thus far, perhaps because it has more of a contemporary feel than the others, more action oriented while the other films have lent themselves to more navel-gazing and introspection of the characters.

Finally we have Our Story (Notre Histoire or Separate Rooms, as the titles on the film actually label it), a film by Bertrand Blier from much later in Delon’s career.  Delon Stars as Robert Avranche, a lonely alcoholic sitting alone in a train car.  We know this because he addresses the camera and begins to speak about himself, which also gives us the clue that this film won’t be as linear as the others in the collection.  Donatienne (Nathalie Baye) comes into his compartment, and tells him that “This is a story about a man in a train car…” continuing the meta-textual feel of things.  She propositions him, and they have sex, but when she leaves at the next stop, Robert follows her.  He proceeds to insinuate himself into her life, which we learn is that of a divorcee.  Donatienne spends her nights partying and picking up strange men, but the one she wants, Duval (Gérard Darmon) shows her no interest.  The film is increasingly self aware as the entire neighborhood slowly becomes involved with Robert’s obsession with Donatienne, and the approach is very arty, but ultimately satisfying when it all ties together in the film’s end.

All told, The Alain Delon Collection is a worthy introduction to the actor’s oeuvre, particularly for someone like me, who has previously only known the man by reputation.  The set is spread over three discs, and there are no extra features included.  This is well worth a look for fans of French cinema, or anyone looking to expand their horizons with classic foreign film.

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