Bob le Flambeur

1956 crime drama

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A respected but down-on-his-luck gambler considers a drastic move to change his luck.

Everything in this movie, one that is cool as cool can be, exists in the in-between. It opens in a gray, silent time between dusk and dawn. The place is described as being between heaven and hell. There's a gap existing between Bob and his mentee and the female drifter they befriend. Bob's straddling a line between barely getting by financially and not getting by at all, a man who is in a valley between what the viewer assumes are lucky streaks.

The majority of the narrative involves characters meticulously planning and practicing each step of this heist they're attempting to pull off. But since this is a movie that exists in the in-between, it's a heist in limbo. Sure, things happen at the end, but this movie very well could have ended with all of the characters involved in the planning of the heist looking at each other, deciding the whole thing is a terrible idea, shrugging their shoulders, and going on their separate ways. Bob is comfortable in the moments before the dawn of the heist. He's just too damn cool for the excitement, so my favorite parts of the movie show him pre-excitement when he's in his element.

I really like Roger Duchesne here, a guy who brings this effortless cool to the titular flambeur. I like how everybody in his circle has to know that he's not even all that great at flambeuring, but he's still treated like he's royalty. And I loved Isabelle Corey as the young drifter he invites into his abode, one complete with his own slot machine. He picks her up, it should be noted, because he's a gentleman, not because he's horny. I was surprised at just how much of her the camera picked up, especially since she had to have been 16 or 17 when this was filmed. But you know, it was France.

Nearly stealing the movie are a panting dog and a xylophone/vibes player, the latter who gets plenty of time on screen and really knows how to take advantage of the opportunity.

Favorite line of dialogue: "The lessons are expensive, and the pupils never learn."