Le Samouraï

Jef Costello lives in a minimal Paris flat with a pet bird, and his method hinges on airtight alibis. He constructs cover stories with the help of his lover Jane, ensuring his every move can be plausibly explained. This disciplined routine frames his approach to every assignment from the outset.

Jef carries out the hit on Martey at a nightclub and exits with clinical precision. The crime is witnessed by the club's pianist Valerie and several others who clearly see him leaving the scene. The eyewitness accounts establish his reputation as a precise and well-connected killer.

Police assemble witnesses in a lineup, hoping to identify the killer. Despite Valerie and others seeing him, none can positively confirm Jef's identity. The lack of a definitive identification allows him to be released.

Although released, the Commissaire remains wary and has Jef tailed. He moves through the city with caution, aware that any misstep could seal his fate. Jef's notoriety makes every movement a potential trap.

Seeking his fee, Jef meets the man who hired Martey and is ambushed rather than paid. The stranger shoots him in the arm, signaling that his employers now view him as a liability. After treating the wound, Jef returns toward the nightclub to plan his next move.

While Jef is away from his apartment, two police officers plant a bug in his room. The act disturbs his pet bird, suggesting that his movements are being monitored. Jef senses the net tightening as the game grows more dangerous.

After the nightclub closes, Valérie takes Jef to her home, arguing she did not identify him because his employer told her not to. She tells him to call her in two hours, hinting that she will reveal more at that time. Her evasive stance hints at a larger conspiracy behind the hiring.

Back at Jane's apartment, the police search and pressure her to recant Jef's alibi. She refuses to back down, preserving the alibi that keeps Jef's true affiliations in question. The scene underscores the fragile balance between loyalty and truth in the case.

Jef discovers loose feathers around the bird's cage and suspects an intrusion. He finds the police bug and deactivates it, then goes to a public phone to call Valérie, but she does not answer. The night grows tenser as he realizes his enemies are closing in.

The man who shot Jef ambushes him again and pays him for Martey's hit, as well as for an upcoming job. Under pressure, the shooter forces Jef to reveal the identity of his boss: Olivier Rey. Jef overpowers the man and extracts the name.

Dozens of undercover police flood the Paris Métro in an attempt to tail Jef, but he deftly evades the pursuit. The chase heightens the tension, as every turn could expose his connections. The relentless surveillance tightens the noose around him.

Jef visits Jane to reassure her, then drives to Olivier Rey's house—the boss behind his hiring. The Rey residence is the same house Valérie had shown him earlier, though she is not there now. The pursuit of Rey's identity drives the plot toward its climax.

Jef tracks down and kills Olivier Rey. He returns to the nightclub, stepping into the public eye with conspicuous white gloves. Valérie, performing onstage, quietly urges him to walk away, but he confirms he was paid to do the job.

As Jef faces Valérie on the nightclub stage, four policemen open fire, but the gun on Jef’s person is not loaded. The revelation underscores the fragility of his carefully constructed alibis and the existential emptiness of the world that has hunted him. The scene ends with Jef's fate sealed by the authorities' unseen hand.