Somehow, I got to see only now, 45 years after its release, 'Mr. Klein', Joseph Losey's 1976 film, one of the most interesting movies about the Holocaust and Paris during the Nazi occupation. The film is produced by Alain Delon, who also plays the lead role, one of the best acting creations of his career. It is also one of the last films in the career of Joseph Losey, a remarkable American film and theater director, who spent many decades of his life in Europe, self-exiled because of his communist beliefs. He made several successful films, mostly in England in the 1960s. 'Mr. Klein', made in France, is both significant as one of the first films that addresses lucidly and critically the problematic history of French collaborationism and also fits into the themes and atmosphere of Losey's previous films with heroes who question their identity and the description of ambiguous relationships, often leaving the viewers to decide the meaning of what they see on the screen. I don't think I'm wrong in saying this is Losey's last great movie.

The story takes place in German-occupied Paris in the winter of 1942. Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is an art dealer who leads a comfortable life by taking advantage of the opportunity to buy at low prices paintings from the collections of Jews who were forbidden to practice their professions or trades and who had to sell household objects, including art, in order to survive. The ambiguity of his Alsatian name puts him in an awkward position when he is mistaken for another, Jewish, Robert Klein and begins to receive the newspaper of the Jewish community. Being a Jew in occupied Paris was more than a social stigma, and in trying to clarify the situation, Mr. Klein became entangled in the intricacies of the Petain regime's bureaucracy. The search for his alter-ego becomes a kind of police intrigue in a world that has become absurd according to the criteria of logic and legality that he had known until then. Gradually, he begins to open his eyes to the extent of the discrimination suffered by the Jews and which he had taken advantage of until then nonchalantly. Trying to prove his own 'national purity', Mr Klein starts to get closer the other Robert Klein, who had endangered, intentionally or unintentionally, his easy existence until then. The two Robert Kleins never meet but their destinies are linked.

The quality of Joseph Losey's film-making is remarkable. Paris under occupation, decadent and indifferent, in which part of the population had adopted the slogans, policies and racial legislation of the occupiers and had become complicit in persecutions and deportations denying the democratic principles of France, is brought to the screen with authenticity and carelessness. Attentive as always to detail, Losey creates various interior sets, from the hero's sophisticated apartment or residence in a castle of the probable mistress of the other Robert Klein to his rented, miserable and rat-infested house or the corridors of the police prefectures. The streets are deserted, cold, hostile and if vehicles appear they are police or Gestapo cars. Music plays an important role in two key scenes, one taking place in the castle, the other in a cabaret. The sound of the phones is as threatening as in Hitchcock's movies. Last but not least, the final scene is probably the first on-screen rendition in a feature film of the arrests and deportations of the Paris Jews from the Winter Velodrome, a historical episode kept under silence until then, which many French would have preferred to forget. Alain Delon builds his role between nonchalance and defiance, between trying to ignore realities and assuming them. Among the actors in the cast, I must also mention Jeanne Moreau and Michael Lonsdale, two formidable actors who are cast here in consistent supporting roles. The ending is debatable and was debated, open to many interpretations that have not, I think, been definitively settled by this day. IMDB mentions that Costa-Gavras also contributed to the script, although he is not listed in the credits. 'Mr. Klein' is a must-see film about occupied France and the attitude of the French towards the Holocaust, a film worth seeing, thinking about and discussing.

Alain Delon is "Mr. Klein," a man profiting off the misfortune of French Jews during World War II in this 1976 film directed by Joseph Losey.

Robert Klein is man buying art work at severely reduced prices from desperate Jews, and for him, it's just business. When he receives a Jewish newspaper addressed to him, however, he becomes concerned, less he be suspected of being Jewish himself. His investigation leads him to another Robert Klein, who lived in reduced circumstances, supposedly resembles him, and whose new address has been given as Klein's own.

This is a fascinating film about how, in the end, we all become victims of prevailing injustice. There is a great deal of symbolism throughout; Delon's Klein becomes obsessed with the other Klein, and their lives become inextricably entangled.

After this film, you'll be left with many questions, for which there are probably several answers. Thus is the beauty of "Mr. Klein," a wonderfully directed and acted film. Delon, as an arrogant and confused man, has rarely been better. He is one actor who, due partially to a nice long life, has been able to extend his range beyond staggering good looks and play interesting, challenging characters; he is a producer of this film.

This is highly recommended and certainly a credit to the filmmaking skills of Joseph Losey as well as the taste and talent of Alain Delon.

In 1942, in Paris, Mr. Robert Klein (Alain Delon) is a bon-vivant art dealer that exploits French Jews that need to raise money selling their artworks. When he receives a Jewish newspaper, he discovers that there is a homonym in Paris and he goes to the police to report the mistake. Soon Mr. Klein becomes suspect by the police that he might be Jew and he decides to carry out his own investigation but he does not find the other Mr. Klein. He needs to prove his origins to the authorities but becomes obsessed to find his double.

"Monsieur Klein" is a movie with an intriguing story of obsession, but also with a disappointing conclusion. The reconstitution of Paris in the 40's is perfect; the performances are great; but the conclusion is quite non-sense with the personality and behavior of the lead character. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Mr. Klein"