![]() Largely inspired by Bresson's own time spent imprisoned during the French Resistance, the film primarily takes inspiration from the real-life story of André Devigny, an imprisoned resistance soldier who published memoirs about his unlikely escape. Clearly, it isn’t about what happens but how it happens and what everything in between means. It’s bold for a narrative to state explicitly in its title what’s going to happen, but A Man Escapeddoes just that. The recurring musical motif of a Schubert piano sonata underscores the tragedy of the story, coexisting amongst the various sounds of nature (most predominately, the braying of Balthazar) to create a singular experience. Here, the filmmaker has achieved a complete mastery of composing a frame, and every shot in the film has the expressive power of a painting. How will people behave towards something that can offer little reaction to whatever is done? Bresson’s philosophizing is emphasized through the movie’s technical beauty. His being an animal is always made abundantly clear and, in fact, is largely the point. The film refrains from particularly humanizing Balthazar. There is Marie ( Anne Wiazemsky) who loves Balthazar like a pet, adorning him with a crown of flowers, there is Gérard ( François Lefarge), a mean-spirited if sadistic youth who embodies the aimless wickedness of the devil, and there are many in between.įilled to the brim with Bresson’s trademark religious iconography, Au Hasard Balthazar is a complicated allegory about human nature. A donkey, the titular Balthazar, lives a simple life in which he is passed from one owner to the next through a variety of circumstances far beyond his control. Few other films have captured with such poignancy the kindness and cruelty that people are capable of. That said, it’s also one of the filmmaker’s most beautiful works, offering a glimpse at the highs and lows of human morality. There are few if any of Bresson’s films that aren’t wholly tragic, but Au Hasard Balthazar is one of the most unflinchingly heartbreaking. RELATED: Robert Bresson's 'A Man Escaped' Uses Editing to Create a Spiritual Film She becomes more relatable because she's very real, a sort of imperfect human saint who suffers for no certain reason. Her performance is one for the annals of cinema, pained but never sentimental, a young girl whose suffering is apparent but not milked for melodrama. There's also a lot of credit to be given to Nadine Nortier, who was only 18 at the time of filming. Yet, Bresson's complete mastery of his craft ensures that the viewer is left with far more than a heart that breaks at the fortune of its titular heroine. In the hands of a lesser artist, Mouchette might have been an unbearable film. Bresson has no interest in creating a stirring drama about escape and redemption, nor does he have any interest in basking in her suffering. Mouchette's father is an alcoholic, her mother is ailing on her deathbed, and the children at her school bully her cruelly. Adapted from a novel by French author Georges Bernanos, Mouchette is a poetic examination of a young girl's misery while she lives an empty life exempt from happiness. In Mouchette, Bresson's final film in black-and-white, the director paints a portrait of a young woman ( Nadine Nortier) who suffers at the hands of the cruel society around her. A heavy influence on Paul Schrader’s scripts for Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, and The Card Counter among others, Pickpocket remains one of Bresson’s most influential works and an exceptional introduction to his filmography. Instead, it uses objectivity in its direct style, diminishing the emotion in its actors’ performances to allow the viewer to see its events more clearly. Are his rationalizations for his crimes just, or are his actions inexcusable? The film refuses to answer directly. ![]() Bresson largely leaves the judgment up to the viewer. Pickpocket acknowledges the moral trickiness of Michel while neither praising nor condemning him. Bresson often took an interest in filming hands as they performed their various actions, and it’s here that this technique is used to its fullest extent. It often feels like a documentary on the actual pickpockets of France, informing the viewer with a sort of clinical observation on how the act is carried out. Each is masterfully edited, heightening suspense while portraying quite plainly how the pickpockets get away with their crime. The film has an exceptional ability to capture its sequences of thievery. Martin LaSalle stars as Michel, an impoverished petty criminal who becomes swept up in the underground world of pickpocketing in order to raise enough money to pursue his dreams. Bresson explores the ambiguity of morality in his excellent 1959 film Pickpocket.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |