Le Professionnel

The best Belmond's film with Morricone's music, perfectly fitting the atmosphere of Paris. The scene where Beaumont finally meets Rosen is unforgettable. I said I would always be behind you... (04/07/2006)

Jean-Paul Belmondo created his acting reputation and fame precisely with characters of adventurers, detectives, and agents of various kinds, and his character from The Professional is literally the essence of what is typical about Belmondo's acting and what audiences admire. A smart script, dialogue, fights, and a surprising ending. Probably Belmondo's best film. Overall impression: 95%. (19/04/2009)

The archetypal plot premise of cop and villain, very progressive for its time, incorporates an unprecedented and later widely used element that takes these types of films up a notch in quality: the imaginary erasure, or at least partial elimination, of clearly definable good and evil, the absence of a one-sided character profile. Belmondo's character wants to do something bad, but the viewer sympathises and roots for him, while Hossein's character wants to do something good, but his nature makes the viewer dislike him. The Professional works impressively with this clash of two acting and cinematic personas, stylising Belmondo into the role of a rugged hero oscillating on the edge of what is right and wrong. There’s no point addressing that the technical aspects aren’t that good, they are a product of the era. The plot is perhaps a little too stilted at times and the protagonist is too many steps ahead of the others; later films managed to deal with this better. But Belmondo is one of the few unique heroes of the silver screen, where generations will no doubt love his unconventional charm and heroism, interspersed with countless comedic situations and quirks. Revolutionary for its time, nowadays an enjoyable classic that doesn't offend, but won’t impress so much compared to the others. Morricone’s music is perhaps even more famous than the film. (04/11/2017)

Je tire mon chapeau tant à Ennio Morricone qu’à Jean-Paul Belmondo ! Le Professionnel est une aventure pleine de répliques mémorables, d’humour et d’ambiance film-noir. (21/04/2018)