Heads up, cinephiles! The San Sebastián Film Festival is gearing up for its 74th edition, and word on the street is they’re dropping a ‘straight up’ killer retrospective dedicated to the legendary José Giovanni. This dude, a French director, screenwriter, and novelist, was legit one of the OGs who defined the country’s postwar crime cinema, often called ‘polar.’ The festival’s 20-feature program, running from 1960 to 2001, is set to showcase pretty much all of Giovanni’s work as a director, plus eight additional titles he penned for other filmmaking giants like Jacques Becker and Jean-Pierre Melville. This is a deep dive into a true titan’s impact on film history, and if you’re into gritty narratives, this José Giovanni Retrospective is going to hit different.
Born Joseph Antoine Roger Damiani in Paris in 1923, Giovanni’s real-life story was wild, straight out of a movie script, and it heavily fueled his fiction. We’re talking about a turbulent past where he faced a murder accusation and was even sentenced to death, though his punishment was later commuted to hard labor, sparing him the guillotine. No cap, that prison experience became the raw, authentic core of his 1958 novel ‘Le Trou.’ This intense work later got the big-screen treatment as ‘The Hole’ in 1960, directed by the iconic Jacques Becker. Giovanni wasn’t just a consultant; he highkey co-wrote the screenplay for what would become Becker’s final film, adding that firsthand authenticity to the narrative.
But ‘Le Trou’ was just the beginning of Giovanni’s literary influence on French crime flicks. Other novels from that period also became foundational pieces of the genre. Claude Sautet adapted his novel ‘Classe tous risques’ into the film ‘The Big Risk,’ bringing some serious tension to the screen. And for real, Jean-Pierre Melville, another master of French crime, turned Giovanni’s ‘Le Deuxième souffle’ into the critically acclaimed ‘Second Wind,’ starring the legendary Lino Ventura. Later, Giovanni lent his writing chops to Henri Verneuil’s ‘The Sicilian Clan,’ a star-studded affair that brought together Ventura, Alain Delon, and Jean Gabin, basically a powerhouse trio that gave the film some serious ‘oomph’ and cemented its place in cinema history.
Giovanni didn’t just write ’em; he eventually directed ’em, too. After collaborating with talents like Jacques Deray and Robert Enrico, he made his own directing debut in 1967 with ‘Law of Survival.’ This film was a crucial moment, introducing three recurring themes that would be central to his cinematic vision: the French Resistance, the complex Corsican milieu, and the brutal reality of betrayal. These themes, deeply rooted in his own experiences and observations, gave his films a raw, unvarnished edge that audiences found compelling and, dare I say, a little bit sketchy in the best way possible.
Across his 15 theatrical features, Giovanni explored a unique universe populated by some seriously complex characters. We’re talking hired killers, Marseille gangsters, hardened prisoners, marginalized thieves, wayward youths, and ex-convicts trying hard to re-enter society. What made his films so dope was his focus on characters often driven by their own personal codes of loyalty and honor, even when society had long written them off. This portrayal of an internal moral compass, often at odds with the law, gave his films a profound depth and a certain ‘real talk’ vibe that distinguished them in the crime genre.
The retrospective is going to be packed with essential Giovanni flicks, including gems like ‘Birds of Prey,’ ‘Last Known Address,’ ‘One Way Ticket,’ ‘Hit Man,’ ‘Two Men in Town,’ ‘The Gypsy,’ and ‘Une robe noire pour un tueur.’ It also features his final films, ‘My Friend the Traitor’ and ‘My Father Saved My Life,’ which, according to the report, delved even more directly into the intense personal experiences and moral conflicts that shaped his entire life and career. This whole thing is put together by the festival, the Basque Film Archive, and the Spanish Film Archive, and it’s even got a bilingual study by Felipe Cabrerizo and Quim Casas to back it up. For real, the San Sebastián Film Festival, running Sept. 18-26, is going to be straight fire for film buffs.
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Livia Dorne covers film, television, music, and pop culture with a keen editorial perspective. She delivers engaging commentary, reviews, and behind-the-scenes insights that keep readers connected to the entertainment world. Her style blends critique with storytelling.
