The Minimalist World of Robert Bresson

09/16/21 • 116 min

How much can you strip away? How far can you go? Robert Bresson did not just create his own cinematic language. He created his own cinematic ideology - striving to tear film away from the theatre, strip away all artifice and create something you could only experience through cinema.

Over his 13 feature films, and one standalone short, his career spanned from 1934 to 1983. In this episode, we will talk you through each and every single one of his films, look at what they minimised, try to understand why and above all try to express just how it makes us feel - and why it works ... or doesn't.

This is the story of how Bresson became Bresson, and how his minimalist world developed, evolved, reached dead ends and rejuvenated itself.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:26 - Our first reaction to seeing a Bresson film
03:25 - Bresson, the canon and the French New Wave
07:21 - Things to Know Before Seeing Your First Bresson
10:59 - Short film: Affairs Publique
14:45 - Angels of Sin
18:10 - Les dames du Bois de Boulogne
22:40 - Diary of a Country Priest
29:05 - A Man Escaped
37:04 - Pickpocket
47:46 - The Trial of Jean of Arc
54:24 - Au hasard Baltazar
1:02:32 - Mouchette
1:10:46 - A Gentle Woman
1:21:17 - Four Nights of a Dreamer
1:28:00 - Lancelot du Lac
1:32:38 - The Devil Probably
1:35:55 - L'Argent
1:51:07 - Filmmakers Inspired by Bresson

Previous Episode

Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down: Is Rating Films Actually Worthwhile Communication?

Get out your spreadsheets fellow film nerds, this episode is dedicated to you!

It will for once be decided if the answers are truly written in the stars, or if the good old 10/10 system is more than enough.

In our effort to discover the best rating systems and make sense of some of the universe's greatest questions we will also, of course, insult every fan of Rotten Tomatoes and At the Movies.

IMDb's 10/10 scale vs. Letterboxd's 5/5 scale will be examined, and hell, even good old Criticker will get a mention.

We will also discuss some of the rarer and dear systems, such as the classic Norwegian die role, and ask: just extreme can we be.

Don't be surprised, some of us have used the 100/100 scale, and there are still active promoters of 20/20.

Above all though, we will ask the key question: Are ratings actually a worthwhile form of communication?

Next Episode

Best Movie Endings: What Works and What Doesn't?

Is Psycho's ending actually terrible? Is Whiplash an evil movie made by evil people? Is Taxi Driver's ending even real?

Join us as we clash over iconic endings, break down the formulas and share our picks of best movie endings of all time.

Timestamps:

00:00: Spoiler-Free Discussion

20.36: The Spoilers Begins - Formulas / What Works & What Doesn't

57.48 - Films Saved by their Endings

1.09.29 - Films That Are All About Their Endings

1.15.29 - Endings That Almost Ruined the Film

1.25.30 - Our Favourite Endings of All Time

Spoiler note:

There will be extensive spoilers for The Grey, Phoenix, The Last Laugh, Taxi Driver, Whiplash, The Holy Girl, Jacob's Ladder, Inception, Chronicle of a Summer, A.I., Psycho, Signs, The Usual Suspects, Z, Life of Brian, All That Jazz - as well as milder spoilers for many others.