L’ Argent, the last directorial effort of Robert Bresson, is unfortunately, in my opinion, seems also to be his least ( though i only seen Au Hasard balthazar yet, but really, this film is plain forgettable). Forgive me all the Bresson fans out there, but i just didn’t find anything special in this film.
Once again, the things that bugged me the most is the acting. Yes, it is true that Bresson always thought that acting is secondary. He prefer to cast an unknown on his film, and let the images and the music do the talking. But unlike Au Hasard Balthazar, in which there are beautiful black-and-white cinematography in every second, accompanied with a wonderful Schubert sonata as a background music, in L’Argent, those aspects are nowhere to be seen.
If there’s one thing to salvage of, it is the story., which some might call, very Dostoyevsky-an. But too bad, that credit has goes to Tolstoy, not Bresson. So all in one, i had to regret that Bresson ( which i’m so curious about his work, especially after seeing Au Hasard Balthazar ) had to end his career, with this inferior film.