Robert Bresson

[lordofdance]

This guy is an enigma to me. Sometimes I find his style refreshing, while other times he seriously gets on my nerves. Take Au hasard Balthazar, for example. Here's a deadly serious movie about the plight of a donkey with characters that walk around like they're lobotomized most of the time. Part of me likes Bresson's artistic choice of having the actors give very understated performances, because I'm sick of actors hamming it up in so many movies. But at the same time, the donkey has more personality than the human characters! More than a few times I asked myself "Am I actually taking this shit seriously?", yet I kept watching.

Pickpocket gets on my nerves more than Balthazar, mainly because I think the primary character thinks waaaaay to highly of himself for the "profession" he's chosen. Bresson chose to base Pickpocket on the novel Crime and Punishment, where the main character justifies murder by claiming himself to be some sort of "great man" that is above common morality. However, Bresson substitutes murder with petty thievery. It's just dumb. But I still find the style of the film fascinating. And annoying. I can't decide.

I just started watching Mouchette, and Bresson's up to his old tricks in this movie, too. I'll have to wait and see what I think of this film.

By the way, has anybody noticed that Bresson fades out of scenes alot? It seems that he ends many scenes with a fade out.

[Nomansvally]

1. Mouchette - one of my favorite films, so emotionally powerful!
2. Pickpocket
3. Au Hasard Balthazar
4. Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne

I really like Bresson's way of doing things, how he focus on movements of e.g hands to indicate emotions rather than showing a face's expressions. He's brilliant in visual storytelling and know how to get the images to haunt you, I certainly experienced this. His films are humane and doesn't set out to be less than realistic.

I am interested in exploring his filmography, like the films Le Diable probablement, Journal d'un curé de campagne and Quatre nuits d'un rêveur. The best thing for me would've been if I stumbled upon a Bresson-retrospective at some Cinemateque.

Anyone dig this man?

[criterionmaster]

nomansvally said:

1. Mouchette - one of my favorite films, so emotionally powerful!
2. Pickpocket
3. Au Hasard Balthazar
4. Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne

I really like Bresson's way of doing things, how he focus on movements of e.g hands to indicate emotions rather than showing a face's expressions. He's brilliant in visual storytelling and know how to get the images to haunt you, I certainly experienced this. His films are humane and doesn't set out to be less than realistic.

I am interested in exploring his filmography, like the films Le Diable probablement, Journal d'un curé de campagne and Quatre nuits d'un rêveur. The best thing for me would've been if I stumbled upon a Bresson-retrospective at some Cinemateque.

Anyone dig this man?

Can't say I dig him too much, I have seen two of his films, Au Hasard Balthazar and Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne. My initial reaction to Balthazar was, very good film and only slightly overrated. But the more I think about it the less I like it, lordofdance said he likes the unprofessional acting, and sometimes I do too, but this acting is so stiff and makes me care less about what happens. I don't see where all the love comes from, but I still need to see more from him. I did like Dames though, but that isn't like other Bresson.

[lordofdance]

Acting hasn't ever been one of my biggest concerns in movies. I may even kind of hate actors a little bit. Maybe that's why I like the way Bresson just makes them part of the scenery. I'm not saying that some acting in films doesn't appeal to me, but I do feel myself leaning toward Bresson's philosophy the more I think about it.

Bresson's films aren't entertaining to me in the ways other ones are. His style is what draws me in, but I can't say that the overall films do much for me. I like how they're made more than what they're actually about. I kind of feel like his style is the movie, and everything else is secondary.