Word: flambeur
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Dates: during 1982-1982
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...FLAMBEUR opens with a wonderful shot of Paris' Montmartre district. Softened by the early dawn, the view is reminiscent of an old, grainy photograph. But as the camera descends into the Place Pigalle and the back room of a seedy nightclub where Bob Montagne (Roger Duchesne) is losing miserably at craps, the atmosphere changes to one which is highly stylized and starkly black-and-white. The beauty of this film is the way in which it blends those two textures, morally as well as visually, into a witty and seamless union of French style and American film noir...
...Flambeur seems wonderfully ancient because it is. The film was made back in 1955, which means Lindbergh, Le Car and Yoplait had an easier time getting across the Atlantic. The director and co-screenwriter Jean-Pierre Melville (who died in 1973) was born Grumbach, but his passion for America led him to change his name in honor of the great American author...
...Montagne, a semi-retired hood known as "Le Flambeur" (the gambler), is a peculiar blend of American and French character. He speeds around the narrow streets of Montmartre in that most American symbol, the Cadillac convertible, and his outfit suggests the classic American gangster get-up: rumpled raincoat, dark suit, and perpetually tilted hat. And there is that peculiarly American sense of optimism and near-innocence that he earnestly exudes as he flips the ever-present coin in his pocket and wryly comments." I feel my luck coming back...
This does not detract from Bob le Flambeur--one director's delightful tribute to a city, a way of life, and the grand tradition of American movies...
...offers him a victimless crime and a chance to tie up all his life's loose ends. The plot comes to a conclusion that is astonishing because it is unexpected and because it satisfies the law and our moral sense. But story is the least of Bob le Flambeur's pleasures. This film is "about" a casino heist the way the other Melville's great novel is "about" a big bad whale: The film's true subject is how a man of a certain integrity (however sleazy his profession) lives in a world that does...