Jean-Paul Belmondo

When he starred in 1960's Breathless, one critic praised the charm but peculiar ugliness of Jean-Paul Belmondo. He was perfectly cast as a young man steeped in inspiration from classic film while not quite having the star-wattage. He was believably average. And yet, Jean-Paul Belmondo, who passed away yesterday at 88, went on to become one of the greatest stars who ever lived. In gangster films for Jean-Pierre Melville, in more New Wave films for Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. And finally he was a reliably bankable action film star, the kind of star his character in Breathless might have dreamed he was.

He never went to Hollywood, despite plenty of opportunity. He remains a distinctive part of European cinema. He often played doomed men who seemed to take their inevitable fate in a glum but affable stride. He accepts the crushing weight of Godard's postmodernist pessimism in Pierrot le Fou; he's gamely brought to destruction by Catherine Deneuve in Truffaut's update of Vertigo, Mississippi Mermaid.

He also rapidly scaled the side of four storey building in that movie. He conveyed ennui and yet always also the sense of coiled physical power that made him a great action star in a film like The Professional in 1981. The tension between undeniable potential and inevitable doom made him inimitable and fascinating. Everything that made him a great gangster or a doomed lover made him also perfect for the title role in Leon Morin, Priest. That burning confidence becomes in this context a quiet self-possession and a beautiful form of commitment.

Currently you can see many of Belmondo's best films on The Criterion Channel.

Twitter Sonnet #1471

The skipping stream at last resigns to fall.
The words decrease in speed behind the lips.
Assistance waits beyond the mirrored hall.
The tallest waiters work for higher tips.
Reluctant spinning circles yield a stream.
With patient heart she sat before the box.
At last, the picture came to take the screen.
She walks the dream and shod with only socks.
A burglar lasts beyond the final shove.
The siren's letters fast the island drew.
The poster mirror lures another love.
Pierrot finds a party painted blue.
On endless screens remain his stumb'ling heat.
The strong, ungainly steps imprint the street.