De weg naar Bresson (1984)

Directors:

Leo De Boer
Jurriën Rood

Writer:

Jurriën Rood (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Cast

Robert Bresson	...	Himself
Louis Malle	...	Himself
Dominique Sanda	...	Herself
Paul Schrader	...	Himself
Andrei Tarkovsky	...	Himself
Orson Welles	...	Himself

Also Known As:

The Road to Bresson (USA)

Runtime:

54 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch | French | English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Trivia:

This documentary is available as an extra on the 2008 UK DVD release of Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956) from Artificial Eye.

Movie Connections:

References Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (1956)

Superb documentary of one of cinema's true masters

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

THE ROAD TO BRESSON is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen about film or film-making. This should be seen in film schools and on public television, because it is such an insightful and informative learning tool of one of cinema's most uncompromising, yet elusive figures. Until New Yorker had recently issued a lot of Robert Bresson films on video, they were about as hard to see as this obscure documentary on the man and his work.

This is two films at once- it is a record of the filmmakers trying to land Bresson for an interview, all while explaining to us what is so unique about his movies. If you've never seen a foot of film directed by the man, you leave this documentary knowing his work intimately... it is that good.

Bresson began making features which were indicative of the "classical" style of French films of the time (LES ANGES DU PECHE, LES DAMES DU BOIS DE BOULOGNE). However, he began a more personal, minimalist style with DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, and on. His use of non-actors were so that a star persona would not dominate the film. Since he spent years on one picture, he would tirelessly direct his cast to deliver the absolute monotone delivery and wooden performance that he felt would befit his dehumanized subjects. He would further drain his films of any passion with his sense of economy. One cut-in would replace all of the more expansive setups that any other directors would use for a scene (what mattered most to Bresson was what happened offscreen). Further, the people in his pictures often committed acts (murder, suicide) for which the screenplay would fail to explain. Thus, his characters were just as irrational as any human being.

The documentary opens with the striking, silver-haired septuagenarian director accepting an award for L'ARGENT (which would be his final film)- and this must be one of the few images one can ever see of this notorious recluse. We see the filmmakers finally track down the legend for an interview. Over the phone, they compromise and are allowed to ask the director only one question if they are to interview him at all. Thus, we see the fabled interview, where the director sits down, and the people behind the camera ask him their one question. True to form, the crusty man gives them a one-word answer and then gets up to leave.

Thus, THE ROAD TO BRESSON becomes a documentary about a man whose behaviour is as elusive as the people who populate his films. Along the way to this shaggy dog of a climax, we see lots of valuable sequences of what typifies the man's style: the repetition of simple shots to convey that same repetition in THE TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC, the use of a few cut-ins for a jousting scene in LANCELOT DU LAC, and a shooting occurring offscreen in THE DEVIL PROBABLY. It is simply one of the finest pictures ever made which offer any insight into the work of a director.