settima

gambling

Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)

Jun

13

frites

Bob le flambeur (1956)

Anne (Isabelle Corey), a cute blonde with a beret, eats a fry (French, obviously) while giving us a side glance. It's all very proto-Vague. DP: Henri Decaë.

– I saw you the other morning, eating frites.

– I like frites.

Bob le flambeur [Bob the Gambler] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)

Jun

13

Friday

Bob le flambeur (1956)

Bob (Roger Duchesne) at the tables, gambling. DP: Henri Decaë.

An unlucky character on Friday the 13th

“I'd even lose at hopscotch these days.”

– Bob Montagné

Bob gambles, and always wins. But then he starts losing. Not just games, also his friends.

La baie des anges [Bay of Angels] (Jacques Demy, 1963)

Jan

9

Wheel of Fortune

La baie des anges (1963)

Jean (Claude Mann) and Jackie (Jeanne Moreau) at a casino table. The tension is palpable. DP: Jean Rabier.

Good, or bad, fortune on the day Wheel of Fortune premiered in 1975.

– How much did you win?

– 500,000 in less than an hour. It's immoral, but no more than anything else. No more than poverty or ugliness.

La baie des anges [Bay of Angels] (Jacques Demy, 1963)

Aug

6

mercredi

La baie des anges (1963)

The bank where Jean Fournier (Claude Mann) works. A wall calendar, slightly tilted, reads Août 6 Mercredi. DP: Jean Rabier.

“Life has its tricks. Its oddities.”

– Jackie Demaistre

La baie des anges [Bay of Angels] (Jacques Demy, 1963)

Dec

23

pears

La baie des anges (1963)

A blonde Moreau at a restaurant table with a man seen from the back. There are several semi-empty wine glasses and pears sliced lengthwise on a plate, covered with a napkin. Jeanne's character Jackie Demaistre is holding a small sheet of paper with a schematic drawing of a roulette wheel while throwing the man a sceptical glance. DP: Jean Rabier.

“We'll go back to Nice tomorrow. The Bay of Angels brings us luck.”

– Jean Fournier