Finally got to see this! Only took four years. As we were watching it, we kept saying, "Wow, this really feels like that film that starts with the criminal and cop chained together in the train, and then there's this newly released ex con. . ." (Le Cercle Rouge), and of course it does, since they're the same director. You'd commented on their similarities here..

I found myself unaccountably concerned about Alain Delon's small bird and thought his apartment looked wonderfully Vermeer-ish.