have only seen country priest. it's heavy as fuck but i think there was something precious in there. i've heard you need to watch it differently to most other films. my best friend told me that. we will watch it again some day. the priest's relationship with that young lady/girl was intriguing
― Inspiration for the sex robot sprang from the September 11 attacks (acoleuthic), Monday, 11 January 2010 04:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Country Priest still my favourite.
― moron oil (Gukbe), Monday, 11 January 2010 04:13 (fourteen years ago) link
also RIP that actress who jumped in front of a train :(
― moron oil (Gukbe), Monday, 11 January 2010 04:14 (fourteen years ago) link
country priest would have been my pick if i'd voted. i don't think i can watch the donkey again.
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Monday, 11 January 2010 04:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Still haven't watched A Man Escaped.
― queen frostine (Eric H.), Monday, 11 January 2010 05:06 (fourteen years ago) link
You should! It's a rather straightforward story (man is arrested, man devises way of breaking out, etc.), but the way Bresson films it can pretty much only be described as "poetic".
― vittorio de sickofitall (Daruton), Monday, 11 January 2010 05:11 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm sure it's great. Everything Bresson did was.
― queen frostine (Eric H.), Monday, 11 January 2010 05:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Ignatiy V inaugurates a series of essays:
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/robert-bresson-the-over-plenty-of-life
related to 2-week NYC retro:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/bresson.html
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 8 January 2012 17:11 (twelve years ago) link
Diary of a Country Priest is extraordinary. So much Bresson still to watch.
― glumdalclitch, Sunday, 8 January 2012 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
xp really weird to think that "that dude from the arty video store" is now an "authority"
― tanuki, Sunday, 8 January 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
The Trial of Joan of Arc pulls off the climactic barbecue better than the other 3 Jeanne films I've seen.
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:14 (twelve years ago) link
"just a little bread dipped in wine..."
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:22 (twelve years ago) link
We've got a big series starting at the Lightbox next month (hooked in to the same series showing in NY, undoubtedly):
http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffbelllightbox/2012/4400000375
― clemenza, Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
yes, full North American tour:
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/complete-bresson-retrospective-to-tour-north-america
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
Apparently George Cukor is responsible for evangelizing about Bresson's greatness after watching Country Priest.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
I.V. on Bresson and comedy:
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/the-comedy-stylings-of-robert-bresson
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 January 2012 16:02 (twelve years ago) link
Diary... is so great.
Pains me to say it: his version of the Joan of Arc story is the weakest of the four, adds nothng to Dreyer's version beyond the non-silence of it. V well made staged and made and yet..
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 15 January 2012 11:52 (twelve years ago) link
Four? I think I also know of Preminger, Victor Fleming and Rivette versions, I guess that's four
― Mayne ... Or Astro-Mayne? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 12:32 (twelve years ago) link
I hope you're not including the Milla Jovovich version
― tanuki, Sunday, 15 January 2012 14:02 (twelve years ago) link
VF version with Ingrid Bergman in the title role was on last week but I didn't watch it.
― Mayne ... Or Astro-Mayne? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 14:18 (twelve years ago) link
I didn't know there was a Rivette version! Was thinking of Dreyer, Bresson, Ingrid then Jovovich.
The Jovovich version has 'tude ;-), which is more than can be said for the Bresson version.
Dreyer, with the right soundtrack (or even completely silent) is best.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
Havne't seen Ingrid and that has to be corrected.
Sandrine Bonnaire is Joan in the Rivette version. I only saw Part I, the first four hours.
― Das Lexist (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:39 (twelve years ago) link
the films of robert depression
― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:45 (twelve years ago) link
Looked this up, and I had forgotten, basically because I sense it probably won't be very good. Not sure he's the go to guy for 'The Battles'; they probably involve toy horses. xp = the end of Pickpocket gave me a very warm feeling.
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
― tanuki, Sunday, January 8, 2012 12:22 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark
hyou mean ignatiy? hes a real good writer....
― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
oh i know — didn't mean it as a slight, just weird seeing reg'lar folks become "celebrities"
― tanuki, Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.momogalerie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Robert-Bresson-balthazar-Momo-Galerie-Romaric-Tisserand-margherita-ratti-.jpeg
― nakhchivan, Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:50 (twelve years ago) link
Didn't dislike what I saw of the Rivette, just didn't have the opportunity to see the rest of it.
― Das Lexist (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2012 21:50 (twelve years ago) link
so what of Four Nights of a Dreamer? New print tonight.
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 19 January 2012 15:23 (twelve years ago) link
it's coming here in feb -- une femme douce and jeanne d'arc this sunday.
― tanuki, Thursday, 19 January 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
braggin alert - i saw "a man condemned to die has escaped" on the big screen, with a pristine print
it is incredibly intense, basically pure action in the sense of not much talking, tiny noises having huge significance, the relationship of bodies in space driving the plot forward
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:12 (twelve years ago) link
and i love how the title says it all: the plot is entirely given away, so all that's left is the action of how it happens, and your empathy with this guy being enough to draw you into feeling what he's feeling
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:14 (twelve years ago) link
lLes Anges du péché and Les Dames de Bois du Boulogne at GSFC last night — a treat to see Les Dames on the big screen but Les Anges was the highlight — probably his most "literary" film, really excellent dialogue and a lot more in common with his later films than I'd expected.
― tanuki, Sunday, 29 January 2012 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
i'd like to come down to chicago to see the ones i haven't seen on the big screen, esp four nights of a dreamer which i've only seen in a nth generation VHS bootleg.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Sunday, 29 January 2012 20:47 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, really excited about that one.
― tanuki, Sunday, 29 January 2012 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
Anyone in this thread planning to see the series at the National Gallery (Washington, DC)?
― stop me before i eat again (j.lu), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
I am. Hyped for it.
― encarta it (Gukbe), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:43 (twelve years ago) link
saw A Man Escaped again last week, tot forgot about the teenage Matt Damon type who enters midway.
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:44 (twelve years ago) link
UGGGH. Netflix has pulled L'Argent from its roster. Saw it years ago but wanted to refresh my memory.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 January 2012 15:45 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah the New Yorker Video DVD is long OOP. I saw it when Doc Films played it here the year before last and I'll see it again when it plays at GSFC (which would make it my most-watched Bresson).
― tanuki, Monday, 30 January 2012 15:55 (twelve years ago) link
I watched L'Argent on Hulu Plus a few weeks ago. Don't know if it's still there.
― circa1916, Monday, 30 January 2012 21:13 (twelve years ago) link
bleh, we're not getting this retro til may
― donna rouge, Monday, 30 January 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
getting it again in Brooklyn in April....
I didn't know this abt Man Escaped:
Original author Andre Devigny served as adviser on the film, which was actually shot in the same Montluc prison where he was incarcerated. Devigny also loaned Bresson the ropes and hooks he had used in his escape.
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
iirc, l'argent is part of Criterion's hulu lineup, with a dvd/blu forthcoming.
also: Olive films has The Devil, Probably in their pipeline.
― Lady Writer, Male Seether (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 30 January 2012 22:26 (twelve years ago) link
Four Nights of a Dreamer was brilliant — certainly explodes the narrative of his oeuvre sliding from bleak to bleaker in his later films. I had read that it was supposedly more "comedic" than his others but I didn't think it would be so funny! I hope a new DVD is in the works.
― tanuki, Sunday, 5 February 2012 21:08 (twelve years ago) link
it has been a while since i saw it but i remember thinking it was kinda bresson's blow up, maybe just in setting - something so funny about even just seeing the bressonian leads hazily marching along against a backdrop of like guitar-strumming parisian folkies
― quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Sunday, 5 February 2012 23:39 (twelve years ago) link
Posting on Bresson during the Super Bowl--the most solitary of the solitary.
― clemenza, Sunday, 5 February 2012 23:44 (twelve years ago) link
I watched the first quarter, now I'm over here to see what's buzzing
― Hambone Italiano (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 February 2012 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
― quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Sunday, February 5, 2012 5:39 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
guitar-strumming parisian BOSSA NOVA band. on a BARGE. for the win.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, 6 February 2012 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
didn't know Bresson beyond Balthazar before now
― Dan S, Sunday, 27 October 2019 22:10 (four years ago) link
all three of the ones I've seen - A Man Escaped, Pickpocket, Mouchette - have a ruthless, closed-off quality
― Dan S, Sunday, 27 October 2019 22:31 (four years ago) link
Good description
― Ferlinghetti Hvorostovsky (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 27 October 2019 22:40 (four years ago) link
L'Argent is another incredible film. I really like his style as a director
― Dan S, Friday, 8 November 2019 01:00 (four years ago) link
A Man Escaped is so good. The truncated Gestapo guards in it is something that sticks in the memory, if I'm remembering it right you only see angled/restricted shots of them mostly and that adds to the feeling of de-humanised hopeless dread.
― calzino, Friday, 8 November 2019 01:15 (four years ago) link
enjoyed reading Ebert's tribute article from when he died in 1999:
https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/robert-bresson-was-master-of-understatement
― Dan S, Friday, 8 November 2019 01:32 (four years ago) link
I like the quote: "If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear."
― Dan S, Friday, 8 November 2019 01:54 (four years ago) link
I went to a screening of Pickpocket once and another random guy who was there followed me afterward trying to get me to admit it was pretentious bullshit.
― Chris L, Friday, 8 November 2019 02:10 (four years ago) link
Good one
― Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 November 2019 02:41 (four years ago) link
don't think his films are pretentious but they are on the surface inscrutable
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 November 2019 02:57 (four years ago) link
they seem very modest
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:01 (four years ago) link
My post was an xpost to Dan S, but I guess it works either way.
― Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:04 (four years ago) link
I like that only the most significant moments mattered to him: “He pared down every scene and shot, every movement and utterance of his performers, to the bare essentials. Each situation, image, and sound had to have a sharpness, a freshness, a novelty. That is why Bresson’s cinema is forever modern” (Adrian Martin, Criterion)
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:32 (four years ago) link
― Dan S, Friday, November 8, 2019 9:57 PM
Really? His films mean what they say.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:34 (four years ago) link
I think I mean that he doesn't bother to explain anything, you have to make your own interpretation
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:38 (four years ago) link
Martin's review of L'Argent and Bresson is good I think
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4719-l-argent-the-weight-of-the-world
― Dan S, Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:54 (four years ago) link
Balthazar is a captivating character, but Au Hasard Balthazar as a film is hard for me to grasp
― Dan S, Saturday, 14 December 2019 00:11 (four years ago) link
most of his stuff could not be called easy to grasp
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 December 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link
The story focuses on the fate of Balthazar, but there is a lot of incidental nihilism in the events he witnesses
― Dan S, Saturday, 14 December 2019 01:14 (four years ago) link
Mari’s “no tenderness, no heart, no feelings” masochism is really heartbreaking, in that sense the film elicits empathy, it's the component of the story that means the most to me
― Dan S, Saturday, 14 December 2019 02:09 (four years ago) link
I guess there is a lot to think about with it
― Dan S, Saturday, 14 December 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
― Lidsville U.K. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 14 December 2019 03:11 (four years ago) link
lol nvm The Devil Probably is a nonpareil masterpiece
― flappy bird, Friday, 7 August 2020 07:07 (three years ago) link