Movie : Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and film
Link : Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and film
Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and film
Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler) (1956)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
***SPOILERS***
From Le Doulos to Le Cercle Rouge, Jean-Pierre Melville expressed his fascination with crime through minimalist film noirs hell bent on depicting the meticulous proceedings of the glorified American gangster. True to remaining “an extreme individualist,” as he called himself, none of his main characters lived the day to spend the money they stole. Self-taught by the classic American gangster films, Melville always held a knack for romanticizing the nature of a conman’s work, but also for balancing such an idolized profession with grunt work and the inevitable tragic downfall. The heroic cloak of invisibility reserved for crime heroes of the 1930s and 1940s American gangster films was stripped, leaving only men who simply perform their jobs. The men of Melville’s films had no superiority complexes about their work, but performed the daily grind of conning the more fortunate and outwitting their male counterparts. Thus, Melville’s characters are all shaped by the fastidious process of their work, allowing them to grow as their jobs become more elaborate and delicate. But before the latter days of killing off his nearly invincible protagonists in ironic fashion, Bob le Flambeur existed as Melville’s titular film for his love of American movies; an ode to the classic movie gangster and the intricacies of his work.
Each of Melville’s films holds a unique atmosphere, but set apart from the more melancholic nature of his later films, Bob le Flambeur may be the only one classifiable as a comedy. It’s very much his love letter to Paris, as he glamorizes the dark and dank streets, smug nightclubs and cocktail-sipping beauties—all of which are oblivious to and contrast the stagnant nature of planning a robbery. And although we catch early glimpses of an artistry Melville will soon come to master, the delicate proceedings of performing a robbery are undercut by Bob’s (Roger Duchesne) sheer pleasure in crafting and carrying out his plan. Outsmarting the fuzz becomes a welcomed diversion, culminating in Bob’s inevitable arrest that proves to be no more than a temporary speed bump. Even in the film’s darkest moments, a lighthearted and breezy sense of conscious amusement seems to ooze from Bob, opposed to the earnest policemen and partners supporting his heist.
The score romantically captures Bob’s complicated relationship with Paris: his wife and his mistress; his anchor and his enticer. As a gambler who lives and breathes through his work, Bob is offset by Melville’s carefully placed shots—which always flood the background in extravagant lights, well dressed club patrons and jazzy tunes—which seem to match Bob blow for blow, expressing both Melville and Bob’s undying and unabashed love for the environment that molded them. The chimerical nature of Parisian bars set against the grim and lawless streets contrast each other enough to fully depict the convoluted mindset of Bob and the reality and disparity of a life of crime. Hence, Melville’s most experimental state works wonderfully, especially set against the quiet and untampered behind-the-scenes work from Bob planning his heist, which will come to more accurately represent the Jean-Pierre Melville cinephiles have fallen for.
And although Bob le Flambeur may be Melville in amateur hour, displaying his inconsistencies in maintaining the listless exercise of planning and carrying out a heist, the film will remain forever dissectible and entertaining for its importance amidst Melville’s storied career. He quickly establishes the male vs. male pissing contest that would come to full light and masterful execution in Le Samourï. He gives equal adherence to shaping gender roles, which becomes less convoluted and more emotionally piercing in Le Cercle Rouge. He presents the alienation and seclusion a life of crime brings to Bob, paving the path for the eventual travesty that is Army of Shadows. And unlike any of those films (and in true film student fashion), Melville bites off more than he can chew, attempting to incorporate, interweave and articulate the multifarious predicaments that ooze from a gangster’s world. Instead of allowing the heist to unfold and allow the action to dictate the character development, the heist is utilized as another problem on Bob’s ever-growing plate. What we’re left with is Melville’s sheer passion for Bob: the only character Melville ever seemed incapable of killing off.
Because of this, Bob becomes Melville’s most well developed character in the traditional sense. As a gambler and a long-time dweller of Paris, Bob knows everyone and sees everything. He converses with the police; he knows the club owner; the women desire him; Paolo (Daniel Cauchy) looks up to him. He despises pimps and he turns down Anne (Isabelle Corey) in Paolo’s honor. Melville loves Bob so much that he begs us to feel the same, and such a bond allows Bob’s a level of leniency in his dastardly proceedings. Although he’s a dead-broke gambler and continuously warned about the police department’s knowledge of his heist, we cannot help but root for Bob—not because we want him to succeed, but because we want him to stop. Such an endearing portrait of our character produces two things: the convoluted mindset of Bob, and the struggle between professionals.
Bob le Flambeur’s best moments come when Bob plans the heist with his crew, which should be no surprise, considering such a style will come to dominate Melville’s greatest works. We are forced to endure a man slowly cracking a safe, using a stethoscope and a steady hand whilst Bob times him, challenging him to perform the task more quickly. Bob brings his men to an open field and maps out the exact arrangement of the bank they intend to rob, maneuvering them and dictating the outlined plan of action. And while Bob seems fully capable of carrying out his mission, such meticulous proceedings are offset by Bob’s fantasy of the heist: the men rush the conveniently empty bank and run up the stairs. They are followed by Bob, who strolls in, walks halfway up the stairs, turns around and smiles, amused by the ease in outsmarting both the bank owners and the police following his trail. Such a glamorized vision immediately suggests the actual heist will not be nearly as smooth—if smooth at all. It’s in this moment where Bob’s passion for the job seems to equally match Melville’s love for American gangster films. Bob is so consumed in the idea of carrying out the mission that his judgment is clouded. Perhaps Melville recognized his own absurdity in romanticizing the film in such a manner.
In addition to clouded judgment, Bob simply underestimates his police counterparts. With the knowledge that Bob’s heist will not go down so easily, the police grunt work becomes more intoxicating and engaging for the viewer. We know there will be fireworks, which is interesting in and of itself. But what’s so great and transcendently different from Melville’s later works is that the end result doesn’t bask in the irony-laden death of Paolo, but instead the mutual respect shared between Bob and his adversaries. Bob constantly seems to toy with his own fate, flipping a coin when a dire situation arises. But he almost seems to be flipping that coin…sarcastically? However delusional Bob may be surrounding the heist, he also relishes the competition from the police. Bob’s true passion lies in gambling, and what bigger gamble than the one he took with the police? Once detained by the police after the heist goes array, Bob can only smile and slyly state the risk was “well worth it.” With the earnings from a resurgent run at a roulette table, Bob pulls a classic last-second trick from his sleeve. The police chief suggests he can probably get reduced time on good behavior. A second man suggests that, with a good lawyer, might be able to get off with a slap on the wrist. And Bob, fresh off a gambling high, suggest that, with his top-notch lawyer, can most likely sue the department for damages. Each of the men smiles when Bob utters the line, suggesting they each own their own set of ethics, but respect their opponents. The play of the game is much more enthralling than coming out on top.
For a man who fulfilled a historical career in crafting punctilious tales of gangsters vs. police, Bob le Flambeur remains a fully realized and endearing film in Melville’s repertoire—a necessary diversion that allowed his later works to blossom. And although it may not hold the same emotional weight as the crippling Army of Shadows or the heavenly smoothness of Le Samourï, no film from Melville’s career captured the sheer joy of filmmaking like Bob le Flambeur. The film is truly an anomaly, but a welcome anomaly in the greatest sense of the word. And serving as the inspiration for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight (in terms of story) and Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (in terms of style), such a passion for filmmaking trickled its way down through generation after generation, molding the greatest minds in film and fueling the absolute ecstasy that comes from watching movies.
Watch Free Movies and Tv shows online in HD quality
Watch Free Films and Network programs online Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and film HD Quality
Free Movie download and streaming Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and filmWatch free motion pictures and Television programs online in HD on any gadget. Free Movies offers gushing motion pictures in types like Activity, Repulsiveness, Science fiction, Wrongdoing and Parody. Watch now.
0 Response to "Bob le Flambeur, or: Jean Pierre-Melville's loving ode to Paris and film"
Posting Komentar