“I’m not a puppet”: When Belmondo puts Melville in his place

On Monday, France 2 broadcast Belmondo l’incorrigible, a documentary by François Levy-Quentz, about the famous French actor who specializes in dangerous stunts and popular crime films. If you have to convince catch up with this document Captivatingly repetitive, it’s full of fascinating anecdotes, as evidenced by this story on the set of Jean-Pierre Melville’s L’Aîne des Ferchaux, filmed in 1963.

On the set, a rift is burning between the lead actor and the director. The interruptions pile up, and Melville regularly attacks Charles Vanelli, the film’s second lead actor, whom the director chose out of disgust after several rejections from other actors. Overall, Melville sees Vanelli as a player from the past who has nothing to show for it and regularly does so in front of the team.

In this tense climate, Melville’s final interruption angers Belmondo, which was recorded by the sound engineer and can be heard in part below.

Here’s the full transcript, starting with Belmondo:

– We are not dolls! I’m bored too, Mr. Melville! He got bored and that’s it! I’m tired of this! Because I’m not a doll. Yesterday I was already waiting from 8 to 11 o’clock.

“- and I’m having fun?”– answers Melville.
– It’s not true, you were in your bathroom! I’m not stupid, me!
– When?
– Go ahead! I’m waiting downstairs and they say: Sir. Melville looks for his cufflinks. Well, I’m bored! Because I never scream, but when I do, I’m in the throat! It’s your fault we didn’t shoot.
– What’s the point of what you’re doing here?
– If I told you, you would make me angry. I’m going
– Then this movie will never end.
– I’m not crazy.

Eventually, everything is resolved and filming resumes, but Melville doesn’t leave Vanel alone. This is too much for Bebel, who physically attacks the filmmaker, as Yves Boisset recalls (quoted in Belmondo incorrigible by Bertrand Tessier and the film’s assistant director):

Jean-Paul then approached Melville. He grabbed his Stetson and his Ray-Bans, threw them to the ground, then kicked them before sending Melville flying, who ended up in a four-iron. Look, “Without your glasses and your. Sombrero, what do you look like now? Like a big toad.”

And he and Vanelle left the set. Filming was to be completed after a few days, and the scenes they did not film were provided to fill in with voiceovers.

After this difficult shoot, Belmondo would never film with Melville again, leaving to film with Philippe de Broca, whom he found in a cartouche, a brutally paced and timeless film: The Man from Rio (1964). In 2001, the actor will shoot a new version of L’Aîné des Ferchaux. As if he said the last word!

Additional information “Bebel” is featured in the documentary Belmondo the incorrigible is available for free in repetition on the website of French television.