Bresson (on Cinema)

[stijnlukas]

Anyone noticed when voice-over says "others, it seems, have difficulty understanding him." And then the two interviewers enter the frame?

[nicocoz]

What an amazing man... in front of people I'd rather call ignorant or inferior to the understanding of a primal superior force of which is art-making or maybe even blind to noticing art-itself sitting right below their noses.

[ThePrinceMyshkin]

Bresson & Godard are my favorites. They're similar in that they're both aware of the way an audience perceives a film; Bresson wants to be believed by removing things we can't take whereas Godard, a Brechtian, shows them openly and reminds you you're watching a film. Godard's '80s films are Bressonian in performance (sometimes), and his sound design can be as impressive, though more abstract. Both had the highest of standards, and covered much ground compared to others. Both admired each other.

[martinezmarcio1]

@ThePrinceMyshkin yea you are right i like them both

[M23MATERAZZI]

Godard is an snob and his films are for idiots and snobs. Bresson films have a much more deep meaning. A man escaped, Baltazar and L'argent are superb, Godard would dream about doing a film like those.

[calahann]

I feel sorry for bresson. He is being treated like shit by these two...

[armenasriyan]

50 years ago if you've made an unique art people would get offended and attack you. Today every moron can crap on the floor, call it an art and everybody will like it.

[TheWanderingPrimate]

Great video, thanks!

[groupdraw]

@TheWanderingPrimate you're welcome. :)

[coldbacon]

@TheWanderingPrimate you. are. welcome. (i am alone)

[PtAltmVansanTarr]

@coldbacon

Godard = Le Mepris, in which he cast brilliantly BARDOT!LANG!PICCOLI!PALANCE! in a film which was shot at the formally fascist historic Italian film studio.

Bresson = his masterpiece, a film about a autistic and irritable Donkey, thankfully Bresson in the films one saving grace,give us a happy ending by having the Donkey finally,after hogging the scenes the entire film,killed.

[coldbacon]

are you kidding me? bresson is god. mouchette is great. you are WRONG.

[xalstarx]

@coldbacon What's got me buffaloed is that this person is comparing Bresson to Godard. Some people...

[coldbacon]

@xalstarx i know!!? :p

[PtAltmVansanTarr]

@xalstarx Bresson made Mouchette which sucked hugely. Godard made Le Weekend his worst film which still kick ass.

[liamwilt]

"Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music."

~ Jean-Luc Godard

[paranapoleon]

@PtAltmVansanTarr

Godard and Bresson are two gods who live in different dimensions.

-the feeling to be able to compare two films usually arises when one doesn't understand the autors art.

[expos73]

@PtAltmVansanTarr What are you talking about ? Mouchette is a great film ! maybe Bresson just isn't for you. However I am also an admirer of Godard. especially Vivre Sa Vie, Masculine Feminin and Alphaville. But to compare the two is mixing apples and oranges. Godard greatly admired Bresson by the way.

[JoynJesus2]

When was this? Was Hitler in France at the time? lol :P The interviewers are Nazi-like! They certainly didn't make their guest feel comfortable…haha :D

[tarahumara681]

robert bresson revolutionnaire...

regardez mon blog please A la recherche de la revolution perdue

tarahumara68 dans google

[PtAltmVansanTarr]

Bresson blows, Godard God

[xalstarx]

@PtAltmVansanTarr

Are you kidding me?!?! Bresson never made one bad film. Godard would like to think he's God, but he has become a self-indulgent old crank.

[tool619]

i feel alone, but i derive no pleasure from that..

[groupdraw]

@tool619 i know is that not awesome? check my other video distilled from this same one but shorter. that's the very essence of all of this. that one line. about being alone. you are so right on. (in my humble opinion)

[coldbacon]

@tool619 i know!!! that is the essence of it don't u think? that's why i made the other one which keys on that point. look in my uploads for this same thing but a shorter version. ps...i derived no pleasure making it. (okay, that's a lie)

[rotarford]

pupils.

[19Edurne]

Both Chalais and Roche were among the best and well known journalists writting on cinema. They loved cinema and knew it very well. Beeing french myself, I don't understand all those critics I read here. I think it's a very good interview, with acurate questions, for people who really love cinema. Remember, this is not the kind of promotionnal interview with standard questions as we have today ; they were journalists doing their job and with respect.

[ThePrinceMyshkin]

@19Edurne

I agree, it's good, but the interruptions are a bit much. Stimulating, which is all that matters. But watch her interview with Jean Seberg. She eats her alive!

[SergeantVanek]

What's with the woman's boorishly trying to finish Bresson's sentences for him?

[rickyrisme]

magnific

[showroommeryll]

@008devlin are you a taliban or what? 

[krustykomedyklassic1]

i think bresson must have directed this interview

[zazeify]

it's more than an interrogation. It's a condemnation.

They seem to making themselves an extension of the anger of the masses, and condemning him for his audacity.

From what I'd heard about his films, I thought I'd hate them, but I was stunned after seeing "The Pickpocket" And I couldn't tell you why. And as I see the filmmaker stuttering also to explain why he films this way, I feel that it's some sort of alchemy. An artist who is channeling something that he himself doesn't understand.

[zazeify]

Vee haff vays uff makink you tock!!!!!!!

Tell us vere de sausage iz!!!!!

[skarphedin77]

Jesus, its like they are in an interrogation room. The Woman is cold and rude, has

no expression! ironically she could be in one of his films.

[ThePrinceMyshkin]

@skarphedin77

Hehe, that amazed me as well. She says he's looking for some anti-expression, but they themselves are doing nothing with their faces, like his models. No effort to look a certain way, just 'being'.

[rjbeeswax]

@skarphedin77 i think it's cultural. not rude in france

[jpastuch]

The Trial of Robert Bresson

[oorgah]

The question about the anti expressive acting was pretty accurate and to the point.

[benj008]

I don't like how that woman interview him... she's interrupting him, when bresson is searching for a word, like she thinks she's helping....

[showroommeryll]

@benj008 I think it's her job and she is doing this well.

[sashonska]

class act

[goback3spaces]

He was a completely honest, direct, straightforward man, and the most uncompromising and intuitive of artists.

[Rosinante00]

Great fun. Bresson seemed to be trying not to crack up towards the end. He must have been aware that they were acting like characters out of his own films. I can't help but agree that they were tools (that description kept making me laugh) but the interview was so much more interesting because of it.

[coldbacon]

@Rosinante00 i totally agree with your assessment. i think he was playing them the whole time. and loving it. the eyes. just look at his eyes. in fact. i think his "pursed lips" are a visual echo of the character Max from Rushmore. on some level. I just make that connection at least. In my mind. study his face. think of the kid in Rushmore. am i wrong?

[andaloudog]

"I derive no pleasure from that feeling". Don't we all understand that?

[tolarg]

the way she was asking questions led to that  answer.

[sashonska]

And he's such a cutie! Not the pretentious french film maker I expected, thank goodness.

[RonAlmeida]

Do French film makers seem pretentious to you in comparison to the amateur Americans?

[sashonska]

as a matter of fact, many of the so-called American "greats" are pretentious as well. I think it's probably more of an "auteur" attitude, especially male, that has traditionally rubbed me the wrong way...and i mean film directors from anywhere. But let's be real, the French aren't exactly known for their humility...which is exactly why i was so pleased to see this interview...

[RonAlmeida]

I am sorry I don't see why anyone who believes in himself should be humble?

'Just because you like what I do, doesn't mean I owe anything to you' - Bob Dylan.

[coldbacon]

@sashonska exactly.

[coldbacon]

@RonAlmeida i would say honest. i think all great artists are on some level full of their own ego. otherwise they wouldn't do what they do. i think it's simply a matter of perception. i admire the honesty of bresson as opposed to false humility of others. (not naming names)

[RonAlmeida]

@coldbacon Right On! The commercial cinema is full of false humility. While real artists know that honesty is the basic quality of all art even if it is only their own.

[Loserido]

I recently heard about this man's movies, I can't believe I've never seen a single one, he seems to be a genius.

[DonFarshido]

That woman is quite a "Bressonian" character, would have done a brillant job as an actress in one of his films.

[MarBidi]

Whoever you are, the one who uploaded this video: the same way as so many others here, I´d like to thank you too, for doing this. A great interview!

[dimabbq]

A timelessly fascinating man. How can one not respond to Bresson's style, technique and thoughts?

[tone2thebone]

Thank you so much for this, the interviewers are completely emotionless, Bresson did well to cope with their questions. The woman trying to finish his answers too, sheesh. Did she know he was perhaps the greatest of all time?

Great to see him speak nontheless.

[neonknights]

Indeed a rare Bresson interview! He was 58 at the time but made at least as "fresh" movies as did the Nouvelle Vague "young turks".

[lyonslaforet]

There's a major diference: Bresson was young in his directing methods while Truffaut, "God Art" and co were obsolete, period.

[Olphus]

Where is the rest??