Robert Bresson (French Film Directors)

Rating:
Summary: A much needed introduction to a very difficult director.
Review: To many, rather snooty, film critics, there are really only two or three great directors, one of whom is certainly Robert Bresson. But Bresson is the most difficult and least approachable of film masters, his films are full of pessimism, austerity, remoteness. Most difficult for many is that he is a Catholic artist, and his films often don't makes sense without some prior knowledge of the religion (which is not the case with, say, Graham Greene). Anyone who sees these cold, withdrawn, unyielding films might be surprised at those who find them deeply emotional and rapturous.

Keith Reader does an excellent job in explaining why this might be so. His book is a very old-fashioned study in many ways - it discusses the films as the works of one genius, rather than the more conventional method of genre, ideology, psychology etc.; he draws on old-hat theories by the likes of Lacan. But, though he cannot resist the odd slip of impenetrable jargon, this is a lucid study, explaining each work individually, outlining Bresson's methods and theories so precisely that you literally watch the films with new, more understanding eyes, open to epiphany. The study of 'A Man Escaped' is particularly moving.

Rating:
Summary: A much needed introduction to a very difficult director.
Review: To many, rather snooty, film critics, there are really only two or three great directors, one of whom is certainly Robert Bresson. But Bresson is the most difficult and least approachable of film masters, his films are full of pessimism, austerity, remoteness. Most difficult for many is that he is a Catholic artist, and his films often don't makes sense without some prior knowledge of the religion (which is not the case with, say, Graham Greene). Anyone who sees these cold, withdrawn, unyielding films might be surprised at those who find them deeply emotional and rapturous.

Keith Reader does an excellent job in explaining why this might be so. His book is a very old-fashioned study in many ways - it discusses the films as the works of one genius, rather than the more conventional method of genre, ideology, psychology etc.; he draws on old-hat theories by the likes of Lacan. But, though he cannot resist the odd slip of impenetrable jargon, this is a lucid study, explaining each work individually, outlining Bresson's methods and theories so precisely that you literally watch the films with new, more understanding eyes, open to epiphany. The study of 'A Man Escaped' is particularly moving.