La seringue et la gâchette

Although the movies of the second half of Jean-Pierre Melville’s career are often referred to in the literature as “men’s films”, Un flic (1972), his last work, is the one that most openly questions the issue of gender. The detective story becomes the pretext to present a gallery of characters with...

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Main Author: Thomas Lequeu
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: École du Louvre 2020-11-01
Series:Les Cahiers de l'École du Louvre
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cel/8447
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author Thomas Lequeu
author_facet Thomas Lequeu
author_sort Thomas Lequeu
collection DOAJ
description Although the movies of the second half of Jean-Pierre Melville’s career are often referred to in the literature as “men’s films”, Un flic (1972), his last work, is the one that most openly questions the issue of gender. The detective story becomes the pretext to present a gallery of characters with murky sexual identities and attributions. Thus, the dichotomy between the character of Cathy, a femme fatale and a murderer in a lab coat, and that of Gaby, a transsexual police informer made to suffer humiliation and beatings, matches the parallel between the cop and the mobster. This detailed study of the mechanisms of violence that underlie the film questions its ambiguity, while also ascribing it as an element of the gender-based morality that runs through the director’s filmography.
format Article
id doaj-art-bd3c24101749411f984378be94cbbe6e
institution Kabale University
issn 2262-208X
language fra
publishDate 2020-11-01
publisher École du Louvre
record_format Article
series Les Cahiers de l'École du Louvre
spelling doaj-art-bd3c24101749411f984378be94cbbe6e2025-01-30T14:00:18ZfraÉcole du LouvreLes Cahiers de l'École du Louvre2262-208X2020-11-011510.4000/cel.8447La seringue et la gâchetteThomas LequeuAlthough the movies of the second half of Jean-Pierre Melville’s career are often referred to in the literature as “men’s films”, Un flic (1972), his last work, is the one that most openly questions the issue of gender. The detective story becomes the pretext to present a gallery of characters with murky sexual identities and attributions. Thus, the dichotomy between the character of Cathy, a femme fatale and a murderer in a lab coat, and that of Gaby, a transsexual police informer made to suffer humiliation and beatings, matches the parallel between the cop and the mobster. This detailed study of the mechanisms of violence that underlie the film questions its ambiguity, while also ascribing it as an element of the gender-based morality that runs through the director’s filmography.https://journals.openedition.org/cel/8447genderCinemaJean-Pierre Melvillefemme fatalehomosexualitytranssexuality
spellingShingle Thomas Lequeu
La seringue et la gâchette
Les Cahiers de l'École du Louvre
gender
Cinema
Jean-Pierre Melville
femme fatale
homosexuality
transsexuality
title La seringue et la gâchette
title_full La seringue et la gâchette
title_fullStr La seringue et la gâchette
title_full_unstemmed La seringue et la gâchette
title_short La seringue et la gâchette
title_sort la seringue et la gachette
topic gender
Cinema
Jean-Pierre Melville
femme fatale
homosexuality
transsexuality
url https://journals.openedition.org/cel/8447
work_keys_str_mv AT thomaslequeu laseringueetlagachette