Mixing interviews, rare archival footage and film extracts, the film shows how Melville's works were impacted by what he experienced in his youth during WWII, and how it structured his whole approach to cinema, not only in its thematic but also in its aesthetics.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| MMichel Dreyfus-SchmidtSelf | Self |
| LLeo FortelSelf | Self |
 Pierre GrassetSelf | Self |
| LLaurent GroussetSelf | Self |
 Rémy GrumbachSelf | Self |
 Masahiro KobayashiSelf | Self |
 André S. LabartheSelf | Self |
 Philippe LabroSelf | Self |
| JJean-Jacques NatafSelf | Self |
| RRui NogueiraSelf | Self |
 Volker SchlöndorffSelf | Self |
 Bertrand TavernierSelf | Self |
 Johnnie ToSelf | Self |
 François ChalaisSelf (archive footage) | Self (archive footage) |
 Jacques ChancelSelf (archive footage) (voice) | Self (archive footage) (voice) |
 Alain DelonSelf (archive footage) | Self (archive footage) |
 Jean-Pierre MelvilleSelf (archive footage) | Self (archive footage) |
 Paul MeurisseSelf (archive footage) | Self (archive footage) |
 Lino VenturaSelf (archive footage) | Self (archive footage) |