France/Italy | 1976 | 123 mins

Directed by: Joseph Losey

Starring: Alain Delon|Jeanne Moreau|Michael Lonsdale

 

We bid a final farewell to Alain Delon, French actor, who died last August, aged 88, with a screening of Mr Klein. It’s set in Paris, 1942, during the Nazi occupation of France, and it seems to be a tale of two Mr Kleins. For the one played by Delon, it is perhaps the best of times: he’s an art dealer seizing the opportunity to relieve wealthy Jews of their artworks in exchange for the money they need to finance their intended escape. This Mr Klein is not Jewish, at least as far as we can tell. The other Mr Klein is certainly Jewish, is wanted by the police, and cannot be traced. In fact, we never see him, but we must surmise that for this Mr Klein it is the worst of times. Early on, the identities of these two men become intertwined, so that the art dealer is determined to find the other Mr Klein and to prove his own non-Jewish credentials to the authorities. The mystery unfolds in Kafkaesque fashion, leading to tragic consequences.