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Robert Bresson: Filmmakers
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Each of these films in its own way illustrates what Joseph Cunneen calls Bresson's "spiritual style." Though not necessarily focused on the explicitly religious, they illustrate two complementary principles: on the negative side, the rejection of what the director called "photographed theater" with its artificiality and dependence on celebrity performers. On the more positive side, as Bresson himself expressed it, the conviction that, "The supernatural is only the real rendered more precise; real things seen close up." Being equally adamant about both these principles, he often had difficulty getting financial backing, and this in turn resulted in his having to abandon his long-cherished hope of making a movie on the biblical book of Genesis. Nevertheless, because of these firmly held principles, Martin Scorsese suggested that a young filmmaker should ask: "Is it as tough as Bresson?...Is [meaning] as ruthlessly pared down, as direct, as unflinching in its gaze at aspects of life I might feel more comfortable ignoring?"
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Reference books have always given September 25, 1907 as French filmmaker Robert Bresson's date of birth. Following his death December 18, obituaries in the press reported that he was born, in fact, on that day six years earlier, in 1901. If that's indeed the case, then Bresson lived all but 21 months or so of the twentieth century. His filmmaking career spanned 40 years, from 1943 to 1983, during which time he directed 13 films.
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It would be hard to imagine two filmmakers more at odds than George Lucas and Robert Bresson. The first promotes easy thrills and a facile faith through clichés, astounding special effects, and a readily consumed mythology complete with a soon-to-be-inescapable marketing empire. The latter employs the most elusive and austere means to probe the most elusive and austere mysteries of human existence: freedom, destiny, and grace (themes admittedly shared by Lucas).
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The Film History faculty at Sarah Lawrence College will present a one-day symposium on French filmmaker Robert Bresson, to be held at the College on Friday December 13, beginning at 9:45a.m. in the Film Viewing Room of the Performing Arts Center. The symposium will include a film presentation and papers presented by scholars of Bresson and French cinema.
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