Monsieur Klein

Alain Delon, hailed as the French James Dean, takes the title role in Joseph Losey’s taut World War II thriller of a man desperately trying to clear his name and piece together a mysterious series of events. Monsieur Klein, an art dealer in occupied France, uses the Nazi presence to exploit and manipulate a Jewish community, who, desperate for money in order to leave the country, flog their prized possessions at cut prices to an apathetic Klein. His indifference however, is put into startling contrast when, after chancing upon a Jewish newspaper, discovers another Monsieur Klein: residing in Paris and wanted by the police. When this man cannot be found, suspicions begin to grow of Klein’s own innocence, forcing him into a Kafkaesque expedition to uncover his mysterious namesake and rectify his reputation. Before a jury comprising artistic greats such as Charlotte Rampling and Tennessee Williams, Monsieur Klein narrowly missed out on the coveted Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival; Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver took the crown. Loosing out only to Scorsese is testament that Monsieur Klein was as much revered then, over thirty years ago, as it is now.