Bob le flambeur

Film history is the story of films constantly building on one another. If one contemporary director knows this, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson, PTA for professional purposes. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we take a look at the unofficial filmic predecessors of Paul Thomas Anderson. We place the director – arguably one of the most important directors of his generation – next to the influences he unabashedly cites in his work. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we link HARD EIGHT to Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR.

The church bells ring and Paris awakens. Director Jean-Pierre Melville addresses the audience in voice-over. We meet career gambler Bob Montagné, converted bank robber, who is living in Montmartre. Bob has walked the straight and narrow for twenty years now and has even taken protégé Paolo under his wings. When Bob meets the young Anne who has just lost her job, he offers her shelter and softly guides her into Paolo’s arms. After a string of bad luck at the casino, Bob is left broke. In a desperate attempt to find money, Bob plans a last heist with a team of accomplices. But greed, blackmail and betrayal quickly catches up with them.

In PTA & HIS MASTERS we place BOB LE FLAMBEUR next to HARD EIGHT. The narrative overlaps are undeniable: HARD EIGHT follows veteran gambler Sydney, who teaches the young John the ropes and is also confronted with his past. With Bob, Melville creates “a son of Paris”, intrinsically linked to the place he frequents, a legend whose reputation precedes him. PTA makes Sydney a son of Reno and just like Bob an old school gentleman gangster. On stylistic level, PTA is indebted to Melville as well. You can almost see scenes from BOB LE FLAMBEUR continue in HARD EIGHT. For example Paolo is addressed in a bar about how much he acts like Bob. In HARD EIGHT Sydney is the one who’s told how much John mimics him. “We share the same tastes, I guess”, he responds. In the casino lounge in HARD EIGHT, PTA conjures up a vibraphone player who seems to have run straight out of BOB LE FLAMBEUR. Even the design of HARD EIGHT’s film poster is based on the style of BOB LE FLAMBEUR. And the French gangster film starts with the diegetic sound of church bells whereas HARD EIGHT ends with Jon Brion’s Clementine’s Loop, featuring bell sounds.

Melville worked for BOB LE FLAMBEUR with such a limited budget, that the actors and crew had to be stand-by for eighteen months for when Melville was able to secure additional funds. With his limited budget, small crew and relatively cheap production Melville had maximum artistic control. Something that PTA also pursues in his career. Because of his limited budget, Melvile chose a neorealistic style with jump cuts and a jazz soundtrack, that not only inspired PTA, but amongst others also Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino and nouvelle vague leaders like Jean-Luc Godard. “I gave up on doing crime films”, said even Stanley Kubrick, “since Jean-Pierre Melville made the perfect crime film with BOB LE FLAMBEUR.”