The Beginner's Guide to Robert Bresson

[@cravis123]

I love Bresson's cinematography creations! He was a real artist!

[@amineelboujjoufi6306]

Thank you for this clear and concise essay. I will send it to my relatives before they watch their first Bresson movie. Or maybe after...

[@castinmeadows6956]

To avoid depriving your relatives of their first experience of a Bresson film, do so after, indeed. That is how any art should be experienced. May your relatives be moved. Without external influence.

[@jayxavier7357]

20:05 Correction. White Nights is also Dostoyevsky, and previously adapted by Visconti in a 1957 film of the same name.

[@PatrickWDunne]

This is the only channel I could find with a video about Bresson. Very good work and thanks for the video!

[@johns123]

Masterful filmmaker, one of the directors who got me to consider cinema seriously. Diary of a Country Priest, A Man Escaped, Pickpocket and L'argent are my favorites from him

[@WillN2Go1]

Wonderful thoughtfully made and thoughtful overview of the films of Robert Bresson. Thank you for making and sharing this. I saw Lancelot du Lac and liked it. I thought my brother would like it. He was a factory worker, a bit coarse, but intelligent. So when the Detroit Film Theater showed Mouchette, without knowing anything about it and thinking it would by like Lancelot, I recommended it. My brother and his buddy Carl went. It wasn't dreamy and in color, it was black and white, and dreary. About an abused neglected girl. Depressing. I saw it on a different night. Anyway, Doug calls me up, "Oh man, why did you recommend that movie?" He really gave it to me, boring, depressing, miserable.... I apologized. Then he laughed, "Carl and I talked about all week. Yeah it was kind of terrible, but it really made us think." They were glad they'd seen it. In the end Doug didn't seek out anymore Bresson films, but with streaming, and if he were still alive, he'd have probably sought out a few and we could talk about them. I love Bresson, but I might be reluctant to see a week of Bresson films. Perhaps yes, because I could understand and appreciate them more, but perhaps no,because they could be depressing and tedious. It is interesting what sticks in the mind about movies. I can see something on Netflix or Amazon and start watching it again a year later and not remember any of it, until some completely unimportant detail. The plots are interchangeable, the cinematography is generic, the locations so similar, the actors.... the only thing unique is a coffee cup, a dent in a car panel. (I shouldn't have watched it the first time.) But Bresson? I haven't seen Mouchette in 40 years, yet I remember it. A Condemned Man Escapes. I remember when I saw it 50 years ago thinking, ' they don't have wooden doors in prisons anymore,' and then in 2018 touring Belfast's Crumlin Gaol, they had wooden doors. It was very similar to the prison in the Bresson. I kept looking up thinking about every movement the prisoner makes in the Bresson movie. Also I think it's really important to know that Bresson was a christian. This is critical to his films. I remember the quote he 'was a christian atheist,' but I got it backward. I'd like to see or read someone who understands christian philosophy as it pertains specifically to Bresson and his movies. That would give more insight. (I have no religious faith, but I'm writing about characters who are religious. It's an aspect of the characters, not central to the story, so fairly easy. But work that is deeply based in religion, like Flannery O'Connor which is specifically Catholic and christian, I think requires more information. I took Wise Blood movie and book, as atheistic. Religious con artists, with the one guy being tragically genuine. )

[@teknatheou]

Thank you. You have articulated what makes Bresson's art uniquely cinematic in a way, I think, only rivaled by Tarkovsky and Malick. To me, these are the Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven of movies.

[@pablojuega3312]

Dreyer

[@ryebread7224]

Diary of a Country Priest is one of the best films ever made, imo

[@ajbahus]

I bought a Taiwanese DVD of the movie since I can't find any place to stream it.

[@josephancion2190]

As someone who watched Pickpocket, A Man Escaped, and Le diable probablement, I'd definitely recommend A Man Escaped as the starting point. Not only is it easily captivating for anyone due to it being extremely thrilling and gripping ; but the prison setting makes the minimalism and internal monologues seem much more "justified" for someone who's just getting into that. I feel like his movies are a smidge harder to get into if you're a french speaker, though, because the apatheitc enunciation is so hard to get used to at first.... The actor's intonations are so far from what you would expect in a movie that sometimes I don't even understand what they're saying even though I'm french.

[@bluefilmsltd]

'A Man Escaped' is the perfect starting point but 'Au Hasard Balthazar' is his definitive masterpiece.

[@vinceduquestories]

interesting commentary and viewpoints. Thanks for sharing.

[@wes6571]

This was great! Love Bresson.

[@clumsydad7158]

I appreciate Bresson, haven't gotten fully into his word, but understand in principle his innovations as a visual, cinematic artist. Was actually just skipping thru Au Hasard B and noticed a kinship between him and Tarr, and especially between the endings of AHB and that of Wrekmeister Harmonies.

[@miame8711]

“White Nights” the story “4 nights of a Dreamer“ is based on IS by Dostoyevsky, not Tolstoy!

[@elasticharmony]

Yes but do you know Rob ert Bresson used that certain story because it is a badly written work in his view( which is absolute)?

[@miame8711]

@@elasticharmony it’s not badly written, just in popular style and not at all pretentious which tbh I think is the beauty of it. It is genius disguised as a dumb love story, but of course pretentious pricks will say it’s bad bc they like to claim to be smarter than evergone.

[@poetcomic1]

@@elasticharmony Hitchcock and many other directors used flawed and unsatisfying works for their films - it inspired the director to make them work.

[@winstonwolf5706]

I loved White Nights. It's a very apposite story.

[@miame8711]

@@winstonwolf5706 I made a short film based on it. I love it's rom comy vibe!!!

[@derekwesterman8406]

This is so “Pro-Bresson”. I think this video is a fantastic introduction for new comers. Great video

[@poetcomic1]

Talk about music being used make the image transcendent - the end of Au Hasard Balthasar with the Schubert Piano Concerto..... perhaps one of the greatest moments of music and film together.

[@joshsmith3219]

Wow this was so good. Found out about Breson from a Tarkovsky interview.

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

Yep, Tarkovski said his two favorite filmmakers were Bresson and Bergman. Ironic, since Bergman hated Bresson.

[@K0P]

Ahahah the double non-features of Napoleon and Genesis 😂😂 love the video 🙌 fantastic work. Subscribed.

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

He ended the video on such a depressing note. Those two films would've been the definitive masterpieces of each of their directors.

[@cegalo12]

Triple non-features of Kubrick's Napoleon, Bresson's Genesis, and Jodorowsky's Dune

[@marcolivierleblanc]

Thanks man, splendide work. Keep it up.

[@ryanrudolph5667]

25:46 you could just pair it with Visconti’s White Nights. Admittedly I am a Bresson newby but I’ve been getting more and more into his filmography. This video gets me excited to dive deeper.

[@saifullahmahfuz859]

Clean and precise presentation.

[@mvg952]

thanks for educating me!

[@Childrenworldproduction24]

It's really great that you have mentioned Aparajito (the unvanquished ) in the last and Maybe you could do a similar video on Satyajit ray, because more people needs to know about his works

[@vodkatonyq]

White Nights isn't a Tolstoy story, but a Dostoevsky one. L'argent is the one based on a Tolstoy story, 'The False Coupons'.

[@davidbrancaleone3039]

Thanks very much. I agree, worth the trouble. I was looking for teaching materials and curious to see how others introduce and discuss films, conscious of the student predicament of not grasping all the many references to other films. The pace is too fast, rushed, but students can overcome that by watching again and being given activities, tasks, while watching. Concepts are explained, but so much is made to fit in that one wonders if it would be better for something of this scope to be broken down into three short documentary guides, divided into Parts 1, 2, and 3. Where pauses, silence, can also give students the mental space to think, make the valuable connections that are made. One notable example of this is where his Notes on the CInematograph is cited. The paragraphs appear on the screen fleetingly, the comment is made, but these concepts and aesthetic principles of his require unpacking, explaining. So much is assumed. A film culture is contained in them, that means they function more as signposting, than explanations. So, yes, a tall order! The whole of Bresson in 25 minutes or so! Heroic feat. Very helpful, more for experts than for newcomers though.

[@christophmahler]

"The paragraphs appear on the screen fleetingly, the comment is made, but these concepts and aesthetic principles of his require unpacking, explaining." True - I did had to stop the video at that point and think about what I read and heard on screen. But the task 'to verbalize the non-verbal' is also that challenging that I'd like to see a 'proper example' of visualizing these merely outlining statements in a 'systematic' manner - solely using Bresson's material, of course.

[@ryanneal5083]

This is great content!! Just subscribed and excited to see what else is in store

[@zazenshin1]

For me the suggestions to have double feature nights with one film by Bresson and another is totally out of Bresson's "philosophy". For me a good idea after watching one of his films is to leave some time to your self for absorbing it and appreciating life.

[@kaitlinjuni]

Thank you for making this!!

[@claudebeland7462]

It could be be interesting to draw a parallel between the films of Robet Bresson and Raoul Ruiz, because both are trying to make films specific to their medium but the means used are quite different

[@Snowydervish]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THIS

[@maxlerner10]

Super informative and comprehensive. Thanks man!

[@hardhecks2291]

Great work!

[@peterthedude8201]

Awesome video! I'm having trouble finding where to watch A Gentle Woman, Four Nights of a Dreamer and Lancelot of the Lake. Any suggestions on where I could watch these?

[@user-fy8ed6xj8k]

wow thank you for this. liked the part 4 well all of it, actually

[@shiner8403]

Thanks for this short introduction to Bresson. Towards the end of The Devil Probably piano music is played from a building with the window open. Does anybody know what it is.

[@violinsinthevoid4579]

It is a shame Diary or A Country Priest, Tarkovsky’s favorite Bresson film, is so hard to find and watch.

[@HerbalistGuybrush]

You can get the dvd in some used books store like worldofbooks for example.

[@LarsenMasterPrints]

great content!

[@castinmeadows6956]

For those who have yet to see a film by Bresson, I suggest they watch it before watching this video. To see a Bresson film is to experience and feel it. First and foremost. Not to think and analyze it - which corrupts the raw experience of seeing his cinematographic manifestations with a virgin eye. And, if you are intrigued by your first viewing, I would then suggest that you watch another of his films. Then, and only then, perhaps read about his work - from unimpeachable sources. That, rather than from sycophants who parrot what they've read/heard elsewhere -- or from academics who sterilize the man's artistry to frozen death - without genuine, palpable, real human insight of their own. A level of (neither amateur nor pretentious) insight -- honest, if not truly brilliant - which Bresson's films arouse. In depth and in silence. And with great emotional courage. Bring yourself, honestly and openly, to Bresson's work. For you need not seek. That is a hindrance. The right sources will find you.

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

Kind of agree with you. I first watched Au Hassard Balthazar and loved it, the Mouchette and was utterly confused by its style, then I watched Pickpocket and liked it fine. But it was until I watched a video narration on an article by Michel Haneke on Bresson when I started truly appreciating the nuances of Bresson's work. Now I want to explore the rest of his filmography.

[@castinmeadows6956]

@@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747 Excellent. Good on you. :)

[@mosesinvests]

The Bach of filmmakers. Albert Schweitzer: “Bach is thus a terminal point. Nothing comes from him; everything merely leads to him.”

[@pablojuega3312]

Completamente,...maybe Dreyer and Tarkovsky

[@enesyurdaun5443]

Excuse me but 4 nights of a dreamer is not written by Tolstoy, as its said in the video...

[@enesyurdaun5443]

White nights i meant. Best regards..

[@TheKinoCorner]

Yeah I think it was Dostoevsky. Sorry about that error

[@corbinmarkey466]

I made sure to check the comments before having a tism about this too lol only because I'm very intimately familiar with that short story

[@christophmahler]

@@TheKinoCorner "Sorry about that error" You can - and should - add a 'KZbin Card' or 'End Screen' in order to correct that without re-editing - as 'children' believe everything they see on screen... More curious would be, how You happened to confuse these two authors with another ?

[@amulyasubhash7764]

I'd love to watch you talk about Krzysztof Kieślowski. If you're familiar with his work.

[@TheKinoCorner]

I have a video about him as well as several videos about Dekalog episodes!

[@amulyasubhash7764]

@@TheKinoCorner Sorry, my bad. Should've checked.

[@carlospotiguar237]

Excelent vídeo

[@ajbahus]

I bought a Taiwanese of "Diary of a Country Priest" of the movie since I can't find any place to stream it.

[@canteluna]

Last night TCM showed Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette (I had already seen Pickpocket and parts of other films). I can't say I enjoyed the films - exceot for certain moments - but it was a welcome change of pace. i was trying to articulate to myself what bothers me about his films and so I will make an attempt here in case others care. I have grown to despise film and literary criticism because most of it is pretentious twaddle, but have read more of it than I should have - not knowing better. What I have read from scholars, and Bresson himself in interviews, over the yars about his films annoys me because I feel it is pretentious or simply wrong. If you've ever read music criticism you might know what I mean. I am mostly referring to the criticism of "serious" composers of the 20th century whose music is often painful to listen to, but according to the reviews, it is something otherworldly to be worshipped. So who cares? Challenge yourself and your presumptions, sure, but once you start allowing others to influence you, you lose your intuitive guide. One question I asked myself as i was watching is, are these amateur actors interesting to watch? I have to answer yes for the most part but also acknowledge the often absurd dispassion in situatons where one would not be listless or apparently passive. By using amateurs instead of trained professionals (who actually have a real craft that Bresson has contempt for), I feel I am not watching individuals people but 'standins" who exist to put Bresson's point across. I find nothing interesting about that choice - except, like experimental music, as much of it is absurd, now and then something interesting occurs. Same with the actors here. Anyway, though I can't appreciate his reasons for using amateurs, I admit there are sometimes interesting results that presumably wouldn't exist without this choice. I don't like dogma generally and Bresson was certainly dogmatic about the way he made his films. But I think what I most dislike about Bresson is his - quite typical - anti-materialist views. A lot of his contemporaries were either Marxists or certainly very skeptical of consumerism in how they felt this was impacting the "natural" person or incentivizing greed and other sins and vices. While I don't deny this, I think it is absurd to pretend we can simply divide people into materialists or naive innocents who are being victimized. We have to adapt - spiritually - to whatever culture throws at us. I know Bresson was Catholic and there is an austerity to his films that I don't find charming in an "old world" sort of way; I simply find it bleak. I don't believe there is any reason to believe that human beings are better off - spiritually - in the past than we are now and I don't like the moralists who suggest it, and I do see that kind of moralistic framing in Bresson's work. So, I couldn't care less about what Bresson is trying to tell me in his films, I simply respond to aesthetic choices - the mise en scene - which is what the art of film is.

[@jayxavier7357]

24:30 Some alternate double features Les dames du Bois de Boulogne and Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons [betrayal, sexual politics and class warfare] The Diary of a Country Priest and I Confess [a community turns against a beleaguered priest] Pickpocket and Pickup on South Street [also about a pickpocket] Au Hasard Balthazar and EO [of course] Four Nights of a Dreamer and Visconti's White Nights [same source novel] Lancelot of the Lake and Rohmer's Perceval le Gallois [French takes on Arthurian legends] Triple feature The Devil Probably, La Chinoise and The Mother and the Whore [the death of 60s radicalism]

[@pablojuega3312]

Guauuuu espectacular thanks❤🎉

[@mac2phin]

White Nights is Dostoevsky, not Tolstoy.

[@christophmahler]

"White Nights is Dostoevsky, not Tolstoy." That's right.

[@mosesinvests]

10:34-10:40 Une Femme Douce labeled as Four Nights....

[@zac8780]

does anyone know where i can find diary of a country priest on a streaming service of some sort?

[@gabrielidusogie9189]

How did you analyze his work and turn it into an essay

[@kristianmamforte4129]

Where can I find a a reason film aside from Torrent?

[@pablojuega3312]

Bresson is meditation y budismo

[@pnbllmster]

I love you

[@mosesinvests]

O:44. That looks like Jacques Tati, not Bresson.

[@gregallen471]

That is Jacques Tati.

[@shivamurti6481]

Spielberg ? Who is this Fellow ? ... Robert Bresson, the filmmaker of "Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne" ? ... Of course I know him !

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

lol

[@gregallen471]

I think he directed a film called "1941" but it bombed so now he's a short order cook.

[@arstar5435]

Anyone know where I can watch 70s Bresson films? Pretty much all his colored films except l argent.

[@TheKinoCorner]

I'm not gonna say where... but they're hard to find legally. They've been pretty much orphaned in the States. The only place I was able to find DVD's of them was in Paris.

[@arstar5435]

@@TheKinoCorner hope criterion comes through one day😢

[@shareng.8031]

Anyone knows where i can watch pickpocket?? (Well illegally ofc since i couldn’t find it anywhere and im not from the states)

[@stephengriffin4612]

I know nothing about Bresson but if he is the director who did Bernanos's Diary (Journal) he did a poor job in that. Missed the spirit of the book.

[@XanAxDdu]

è tutto vero

[@behrooz..4297]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤❤❤

[@horus568]

White Nights is Dostoevsky not Tolstoy

[@giuliedv2046]

man you're funny

[@TheActualCathal]

"...of the king..." Surely that was supposed to be "of the kind"?

[@dabears4everha]

Convinced L’argent is a comedy

[@VKDOP-u9e]

Dhere bol dhere

[@sheryarahmed6331]

17:26 is such a cope on bresson's part lmao

[@lospopularos]

The narration is too bl… fast, we had to stop the wideo every few seconds just to ponder what is being said as the ideas are not that straightforward. Otherwise, it’s just one endless ramble (with a few mistakes to boot - e.g., White Nights is not by Tolstoy). Pity!

[@mulena6903]

è tradotto malissimo

[@pookie247]

Corny

[@chrisewan673]

Acceptable, but it needs serious work. The voiceover narration is too low-key, too lackadaisical, and it needs to be louder. A video class on Bresson doesn’t have to imitate his movies in terms of a lack of physical energy. It’s also too long as there’s a lot of repetition.

[@finechina1977]

Chris Ewan there are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job

[@arc7772]

Nobody asked for your opinion.

[@chrisewan673]

@@arc7772 Yet, here you are replying with an opinion, which means this must be the place for opinions.

[@chrisewan673]

@paul w I’m guessing you don’t quite know what “physical energy” is. In cinematic terms, its action. Bresson’s movies are not “active” films in the clear definition of the word action. Not much goes on physically. His films are cerebral.

[@chrisewan673]

@@finechina1977 Not true. There are worse. However, when you learn how to read, you’ll clearly see that I didn’t write “good job.”