Description
1. BOB LE FLAMBEUR
Bob le Flambeur is, at once, a charming entertainment, a resonant character study, an ironic morality tale, and a bittersweet celebration of Montmartre.
ESSAY QUESTION: Discuss each of these FOUR characteristics of Melville’s film, Bob le Flambeur. Identify at least two specific scenes from the film as a basis for each of the four characteristics.
2. JULES ET JIM
Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (1/2/2007) wrote of Jules et Jim: "Conventional is not a word that describes François Truffaut's Jules et Jim. Everything about this film defies expectation, taunts tradition and redefines the language of cinema. Like all great experiments, it has its flaws. Like all tests of talent and tenacity, it's astounding. ...It easily takes its place as one of the benchmarks of modern moviemaking."
ESSAY QUESTION: Identify and discuss at least THREE “Nouvelle Vague/New Wave” "non-conventional" and innovative elements that Truffaut introduced in this film. Provide and discuss at least three specific examples/scenes from the film (one per New Wave element you identified) to support your analysis of the New Wave elements of the film (innovative / non-conventional is considered one concept or characteristic, so you will write about three scenes in total).
3. HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR
Don Druker wrote on January 1, 2000 in the Chicago Reader, “Integrating past and present, poetic images and documentary footage, music and Marguerite Duras' dialogue, [Hiroshima mon amour] achieved a structural balance of such emotional and intellectual power that audiences were stunned.”
ESSAY QUESTION: Identify and discuss pairs of specific scenes that you feel best demonstrate the “structural balance” between: (a) past and present; (b) poetic image and documentary footage; and (c) music and dialogue. You will write about one pair of scenes for EACH of a, b, and c.
4. LE SAMOURAI
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote on 20 May 2003 that "[Melville's cinematic] style remains haunting and elegantly spare, just right for the kind of hit man who lives in silence, in bare and colorless surroundings, with a lonely caged bird."
ESSAY QUESTION: Identify and discuss the "ways in which the director creates a style that evokes this "haunting and elegantly spare" quality, the sense of the "outsider" in the character of Jef, and the vacuity of his life (apart from what is mentioned in the quote above). Provide and discuss at least three specific examples/scenes from the film to support your analysis.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running head: FRENCH FILM
1
French Film
Name of student
Name of Instructor
Name of course
Name of institution
Date
FRENCH FILM
2
Bob Le Flambeur
Introduction
Bob le Flambeur is gangster film about an incredible gambler “Bob,” a reformed bank robber who
slags around Pigalle, making pots of money and losing them in backroom card games, being
unkind to pimps but kind to hookers. Jean-Pierre Melville is the director of the film. The film is
based in France, having been released in 1956 on August 24th. The paper aims to discuss the four
characteristics of the film as a charming entertainment, a bittersweet celebration of Montmartre,
an ironic morality tale, and a resonant character study, along with examples from the film.
Argument
Bob le Flambeur is a charming entertainment. It attracts the attention of the audience because of
its funny and jaunty scenes. Its realism is not the reality of life, but of the kind of films that gives
meaning to the messy lives of individuals who watch films. Miss Corey is charming, and Mr.
Duchesne is almost faultless in the gangland with the kind of tacky elan that defines morality
(Neupert, 2007). The film is also a resonant character study because of the way it sets up its
characters. For many readers, Bob will be the most favorite actor. Around him, there are other
characters like his fellow gangsters and women, such as Ann, who contributes to the exceptional
acting of the character ‘Bob.’ With this kind of character set up, the reader can easily capture the
film as a real-life incident (Menne, 2007). Bob le Flambeur is a twisted morality tale.
Besides the movie focusing on morality and portraying Bob as a gambler and a redeemed bank
robber, he is not redeemed, and he continues with the robbery. We see him making lots of money
and being kind to hookers and even Isabelle Corey ‘Anne’; a girl that offers herself to Bob, but
instead, he protects her, something contrary to what the reader expects of a gambler and a robber.
The movie is also a bittersweet celebration of Montmarte. In the film, Melville displays grainy
FRENCH FILM
3
photography and the impassive voice- over an account unfolding a distinctive Montmartre
dawning.
Conclusion
Bob le Flambeur has incredible developments that approach cosmic irony. It is strange how the
irredeemable nature of a person ‘Bob’ could lead him both into and through temptation....
Review
Review
