Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

film. Much of his work is known for being

tragic Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

in story and nature. Bresson is among the most highly regarded filmmakers of all time. He has the highest number of films (seven) that made the 2012 ''

Sight & Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...

'' critics' poll of the 250 greatest films ever made. His works ''

A Man Escaped ''A Man Escaped or The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth'' (french: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut, which literally translates as: "A man condemned to death has escaped or The wind blows where it wants"; the subtitl ...

'' (1956), ''

Pickpocket Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A th ...

'' (1959) and '' Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966) were ranked among the top 100, and other films like '' Mouchette'' (1967) and '' L'Argent'' (1983) also received many votes. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music."

Life and career

Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe,

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and turned to painting after graduating. Three formative influences in his early life seem to have made a mark on his films:

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, art and his experiences as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

. Robert Bresson lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France, in the Île Saint-Louis. Initially also a photographer, Bresson made his first short film, ''Les affaires publiques'' (''Public Affairs'') in 1934. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he spent over a year in a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

−an experience which informs '' Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut'' (''A Man Escaped''). In a career that spanned fifty years, Bresson made only 13 feature-length films. This reflects his painstaking approach to the filmmaking process and his non-commercial preoccupations. Difficulty finding funding for his projects was also a factor. Although many writers claim that Bresson described himself as a "Christian atheist", no source ever confirmed this assertion, neither are the circumstances clear under which Bresson would have said it. On the contrary, in an interview in 1973 he said, Furthermore, in a 1983 interview for TSR's ''Spécial Cinéma'', Bresson declared that he had been interested in making a film based on the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

, although he believed such a production would be too costly and time-consuming. Bresson was sometimes accused of an " ivory tower existence". Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, an admirer of Bresson's work, argued that the filmmaker was "a mysterious, aloof figure", and wrote that on the set of '' Four Nights of a Dreamer'' (1971) the director "seemed more isolated from his crew than any other filmmaker I've seen at work; his widow and onetime assistant director, Mylene van der Mersch, often conveyed his instructions." Bresson died on a Saturday in December 1999, at his home in Droue-sur-Drouette southwest of Paris. He was 98. He made his last film in 1983 and had been unwell for some time.

Themes and style

Bresson's early artistic focus was to separate the language of cinema from that of the theater, which often relies heavily upon the actor's performance to drive the work. Film scholar Tony Pipolo writes that "Bresson opposed not just professional actors, but acting itself," preferring to think of his actors as 'models'. In '' Notes on the Cinematographer'' (original French title: ''Notes sur le cinématographe''; also published in English as ''Notes on the Cinematograph''), a collection of aphorisms written by Bresson, the director succinctly defines the difference between the two:

HUMAN MODELS: movement from the exterior to the interior. ..br /> ACTORS: movement from the interior to the exterior.

Bresson further elaborates on his disdain for acting by appropriating a remark Chateaubriand had made about 19th century poets and applying it to actors: "what they lack is not naturalness, but Nature." For Bresson, "to think it's more natural for a movement to be made or a phrase to be said like ''this'' than like ''that''" is "absurd", and "nothing rings more false in film ..than the overstudied sentiments" of theater. With his 'model' technique, Bresson's actors were required to repeat multiple takes of each scene until all semblances of 'performance' were stripped away, leaving a stark effect that registers as both subtle and raw. This, as well as Bresson's restraint in musical scoring, would have a significant influence on minimalist cinema. In the academic journal '' CrossCurrents'', Shmuel Ben-gad wrote:

There is a credibility in Bresson's models: They are like people we meet in life, more or less opaque creatures who speak, move, and gesture ..Acting, on the other hand, no matter how naturalistic, actively deforms or invents by putting an overlay or filter over the person, presenting a simplification of a human being and not allowing the camera to capture the actor's human depths. Thus what Bresson sees as the essence of filmic art, the achievement of the creative transformation involved in all art through the interplay of images of real things, is destroyed by the artifice of acting. For Bresson, then, acting is, like mood music and expressive camera work, just one more way of deforming reality or inventing that has to be avoided.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Bresson's directorial style resulted in films "of great passion: Because the actors didn't act out the emotions, the audience could internalize them." Some feel that Bresson's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

upbringing and belief system lie behind the thematic structures of most of his films. Recurring themes under this interpretation include

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

, redemption, defining and revealing the human

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

, and metaphysical transcendence of a limiting and materialistic world. An example is ''

'' (1956), where a seemingly simple plot of a

's escape can be read as a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

for the mysterious process of salvation. Bresson's films are also critiques of French society and the wider world, with each revealing the director's sympathetic, if unsentimental, view of society's victims. That the main characters of Bresson's most contemporary films, '' The Devil, Probably'' (1977) and '' L'Argent'' (1983), reach similarly unsettling conclusions about life indicates the director's feelings towards the culpability of modern society in the dissolution of individuals. Of an earlier protagonist he said, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations." Film historian Mark Cousins argues that " Bergman and

Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...

filmed life as if it was a theatre and a circus, respectively, Bresson's microcosm was that of a prison", describing Bresson's characters as "psychologically imprisoned". Bresson published '' Notes on the Cinematographer'' in 1975, in which he argues for a unique sense of the term "

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

". For him, cinematography is the higher function of cinema. While a movie is in essence "only" filmed theatre, cinematography is an attempt to create a new language of moving images and sounds.

Legacy

Bresson is often referred to as a "

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

" of cinema, not only for the strong Catholic themes found throughout his oeuvre, but also for his notable contributions to the art of film. His style can be detected through his use of sound, associating selected sounds with images or characters; paring dramatic form to its essentials by the spare use of music; and through his infamous 'actor-model' methods of directing his almost exclusively non-professional actors. Mark Cousins writes:

So complete was Bresson’s rejection of cinema norms that he has a tendency to fall outside film history. However, his uncompromising stance has been extremely influential in some quarters.

Bresson's book '' Notes on the Cinematographer'' (1975) is one of the most respected books on film theory and criticism. His theories about film greatly influenced other filmmakers, particularly the French New Wave directors.

French cinema

Opposing the established pre-war French cinema (known as ''Tradition de la Qualité'' tradition of quality" by offering his own personal responses to the question "what is cinema?", and by formulating his ascetic style, Bresson gained a high reputation with the founders of the French New Wave. He is often listed (along with

Alexandre Astruc Alexandre Astruc (; 13 July 1923 – 19 May 2016) was a French film critic and film director. Biography Before becoming a film director he was a journalist, novelist and film critic. His contribution to the auteur theory centers on his notion ...

and

André Bazin André Bazin (; 18 April 1918 – 11 November 1958) was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. Bazin started to write about film in 1943 and was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine ''Cahiers du cinéma'' in 1951, ...

) as one of the main figures who influenced them. New Wave pioneers praised Bresson and posited him as a prototype for or precursor to the movement. However, Bresson was neither as overtly experimental nor as outwardly political as the New Wave filmmakers, and his religious views (

and Jansenism) were not attractive to most of the filmmakers associated with the movement. In his development of

auteur theory An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...

, François Truffaut lists Bresson among the few directors to whom the term "auteur" can genuinely be applied, and later names him as one of the only examples of directors who could approach even the so-called "unfilmable" scenes, using the film narrative at its disposal. Jean-Luc Godard also looked upon Bresson with high admiration ("Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music.") Screenwriter and director

Alain Cavalier Alain Cavalier (; born 14 September 1931) is a French film director. Biography Cavalier was born in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher and studied film at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques. He won several awards, including the César Award ...

describes Bresson's role as pivotal not only in the New Wave movement, but for French cinema in general, writing, "In French cinema you have a father and a mother: the father is Bresson and the mother is

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, with Bresson representing the strictness of the law and Renoir warmth and generosity. All the better French cinema has and will have to connect to Bresson in some way."

Reception and influence

Bresson has also influenced a number of other filmmakers, including Andrei Tarkovsky, Chantal Akerman, Jean Eustache,

Abel Ferrara Abel Ferrara (born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use of neo-noir imagery and gritty urban settings. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best kn ...

Philippe Garrel Philippe Garrel (; born 6 April 1948) is a French director, cinematographer, screenwriter, film editor, and producer, associated with the French New Wave movement. His films have won him awards at Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. ...

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable Tr ...

Monte Hellman Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...

, Jim Jarmusch,

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down," Malle's filmogr ...

, Michael Haneke, Olivier Assayas, Atom Egoyan, the Dardenne brothers, Aki Kaurismäki, and Paul Schrader, whose book ''Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer'' includes a detailed critical analysis. The Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman praised and admired Bresson's films such as '' Mouchette'' and '' Diary of a Country Priest''. The French filmmaker

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

held Bresson in high regard. The French filmmaker

Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...

was an strong admirer of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker

Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville (; born Jean-Pierre Grumbach; 20 October 1917 – 2 August 1973) was a French filmmaker and actor. Among his films are ''Le Silence de la mer'' (1949), '' Bob le flambeur'' (1956), ''Le Doulos'' (1962), '' Le Samouraï'' (19 ...

was also fond of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'amour f ...

has acknowledge to Bresson's influence on his films. The Polish filmmaker

Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Kieślowski (; 27 June 1941 – 13 March 1996) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is known internationally for '' Dekalog'' (1989), ''The Double Life of Veronique'' (1991), and the ''Three Colours'' trilogy (1993 –1994 ...

was also influenced by him and ranked Bresson's film, ''

'' as one of the top ten films that "affected" him the most. The German filmmaker Werner Herzog praised Bresson's films such as ''Pickpocket'' and '' Au Hasard Balthazar''. The Hungarian filmmaker

Béla Tarr Béla Tarr (born 21 July 1955) is a Hungarian filmmaker. Debuting with the film ''Family Nest'' (1977), Tarr began his directorial career with a brief period of what he refers to as "social cinema", aimed at telling everyday stories about ordin ...

was influenced by Bresson and listed Bresson film ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' on his top ten films of all time. The Iranian filmmaker

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...

was highly influenced by Bresson and mentioned the personal importance of Bresson's book, '' Notes on the Cinematographer''. The Greek filmmaker

Theo Angelopoulos Theodoros "Theo" Angelopoulos (; ; 27 April 1935 – 24 January 2012) was a Greek filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. He dominated the Greek art film industry from 1975 on, and Angelopoulos was one of the most influential and widely re ...

listed Bresson's film ''Pickpocket'' on his top ten films of all time. The German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder was influenced by Bresson and championed and paid homage to Bresson's film ''

The Devil Probably ''The Devil Probably'' (french: Le Diable probablement) is a 1977 cinema of France, French drama film by film director, director Robert Bresson. It was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Grand Prix, Silv ...

'' with his film ''The Third Generation''. When Fassbinder was a member of the jury in the 1977 Berlin Film Festival, he even went so far as to threaten to leave the jury (when his enthusiasm was not shared by his peers) unless his appreciation for Bresson's film was made known to the public. The Dardenne brothers's film ''L'Enfant'' was influenced by Bresson's film ''Pickpocket''. The German director

Margarethe von Trotta Margarethe von Trotta (; born 21 February 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, and actress. She has been referred to as a "leading force" of the New German Cinema movement.

lists Bresson as one of her favorite directors. The American filmmaker

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by ...

listed ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' as one of his favorite films in

the Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

library and called Bresson's film ''Mouchette'', "terrific". The American filmmaker Richard Linklater was influenced by Bresson's work and listed ''Au hasard Balthazar'' and ''Pickpocket'' in his top 10 film list from the Criterion Collection. The British-American filmmaker

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

was influenced by Bresson's films (specifically ''Pickpocket'' and ''A Man Escaped'') for his film, ''Dunkirk''.

Benny Safdie Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor and film editor best known for working with his older brother Josh as a filmmaker, whose works include '' Good Time'' (2017) and '' Uncut Gems'' (2019). ...

named the Bresson's film ''

'' as his favorite film of all time.

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

praised Bresson as "one of the cinema’s greatest artists" and an influence on his films such as ''

Taxi Driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...

''. Andrei Tarkovsky held Bresson in very high regard, noting he and Ingmar Bergman as his two favourite filmmakers, stating "I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman". In his book ''

Sculpting in Time ''Sculpting in Time'' (Russian "Запечатлённое время", literally "Captured Time") is a book by Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky about art and cinema in general, and his own films in particular. It was originally published in ...

'', Tarkovsky describes Bresson as "perhaps the only artist in cinema, who achieved the perfect fusion of the finished work with a concept theoretically formulated beforehand."

Filmography

Feature films

As a Director

Short films

* '' Les affaires publiques'' (''Public Affairs'', 1934)

Bibliography

*'' Notes sur le Cinématographe'' (1975)translated as ''Notes on Cinematography'', ''Notes on the Cinematographer'' and ''Notes on the Cinematograph'' in different English editions. *''Bresson on Bresson: Interviews, 1943-1983'' (2016)translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis, edited by Mylène Bresson, preface by Pascal Mérigeau.

Awards and nominations

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Berlin Film Festival

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

Works on Bresson

* ''Robert Bresson: A Passion for Film'' by Tony Pipolo (Oxford University Press; 407 pages; 2010) pays particular attention to psychosexual aspects of the French filmmaker's 13 features, from Les Anges du péché (1943) to L'Argent (1983). *''La politique des auteurs'', edited by

. *''Robert Bresson (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs, No. 2)'', edited by James Quandt *''Transcendental Style in Film: Bresson, Ozu, Dreyer'' by Paul Schrader *''Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film'', by Joseph Cunneen *''Robert Bresson'', by Philippe Arnauld, Cahiers du cinéma, 1986 *''The Films of Robert Bresson'', Ian Cameron (ed.), New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969. *''Robert Bresson'', by Keith Reader, Manchester University Press, 2000. *"Robert Bresson", a poem by Patti Smith from her 1978 book '' Babel'' *"Spiritual style in the films of Robert Bresson", a chapter in Susan Sontag's '' Against Interpretation and other essays'', New York: Picador, 1966. *''Robert Bresson (Revised)'', James Quandt (ed), Cinematheque Ontario Monographs, 2012 (752 pages) () *''Neither God Nor Master: Robert Bresson and Radical Politics'' by Brian Price (University of Minnesota Press, 2011, 264 pages). *''Bresson on Bresson: Interviews, 1943–1983'' by Robert Bresson, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis, edited by Mylène Bresson, preface by Pascal Mérigeau (New York Review Books, 2016) *''The Invention of Robert Bresson: The Auteur and His Market'' by Colin Burnett, Indiana University Press, 2016.

References

External links

Informational *
Robert-Bresson.com: Resource dedicated to Bresson's films

A Bresson bibliography
Interviews

by Colin Burnett {{DEFAULTSORT:Bresson, Robert 1901 births 1999 deaths Directors of Palme d'Or winners Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners European Film Awards winners (people) French film directors French Roman Catholics Jansenists Lycée Lakanal alumni People from Puy-de-Dôme French prisoners of war in World War II French-language film directors