His movies from the 40-50’s are different than the ones up to 1969, when he completely shuts down off-voice, music etc..
I actually believe he never thought that an actor could understand his feelings, (not saying his philosophy is because of this) and if this person can’t understand it will fake those feelings and will not be pure.
Auteurs and regular actors are people with nothing in common (there are exceptions obviously), auteurs are more intelligent and introvert, while actors tend to be more sociable.
“I actually believe he never thought that an actor could understand his feelings, (not saying his philosophy is because of this) and if this person can’t understand it will fake those feelings and will not be pure.”
I think that was a big part of it. I think he felt actors basically subverted what he wanted the audience to see and hear. The more an actor emotes and actually acts and does their own thing, the more you’re distracted from other elements in the film. He wanted to leave the audience with nothing but his vision.
I was also talking about the relationship between both, they come from way different worlds to understand each other.
In fact, sometimes i’m surprised on how some introvert directors were good with actors. Kubrick for example.
“Bresson methods also made logical sense in relation to the art form.”
This was what got me because I had just started thinking about what I would do as a director. It was hard to figure out because my favorite filmmakers were Godard and Tarkovsky and I was wondering who I thought was ‘right’. Bresson made it all simple.
I’m surprised it took him so long to stop using music. Rohmer didn’t use it early on, and he had a similar need for ‘realism’. He used it well though, like in A Man Escaped, the burst of Mozart at the end is overwhelming. I’m with you on the fake crying. Don’t know why he did that. And in L’Argent! He did it all the way to the end!
“In fact, sometimes i’m surprised on how some introvert directors were good with actors. Kubrick for example.”
Rosenbaum said that when he was an extra on Quatre nuits d’un rêveur a lot of people thought that Bresson’s wife was the director because he’d just sort of talk quietly to her and she’d ‘direct’. People always said to me that I couldn’t be as quiet as I am if I wanted to direct, and I’d always point out Kubrick. The best artists seem to be half-insane and antisocial but filmmakers are held to the same standards as a construction foreman.
Well it just shows Bresson wasn’t “perfect” either, even by his own methods.
But L’Argent was as perfect as a film could be. The last ten minutes were so assured, calm and confident, so unforgiving that when THAT PART took place, I actually heard a woman in my theater gasp in disbelief at what was happening. I think I even knew what was going to happen before hand, but I actually felt it in my gut like someone had punched me.
John Pastüch
I know what you mean Mathew. I tend to do that with every amazing director I discover, but Bresson methods also made logical sense in relation to the art form.
Though, I even disagree with Bresson a lot. He used music too many times, and whenever he had someone fake cry, it stuck out very bizarrely in his films.
I still love Bergman and Cassavetes though! The bottom line is in the worth of the work, not the purity. But Bresson really showed me that by focusing on economy, you could bring out the strengths that only cinema have and really make something truly poetic.