Robert Bresson at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962
Robert Bresson(1901-1999)
Robert Bresson was a French film director known for his ascetic approach.
Bresson's early artistic focus was to separate the language of cinema from that of the theater, which often relies heavily upon the actor's performance to drive the work. With his 'actor-model' technique, Bresson's actors were required to repeat multiple takes of each scene until all semblances of 'performance' were stripped away, leaving a stark effect. This, as well as Bresson's restraint in musical scoring, had a significant influence on minimalist cinema.
Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and Au hasard Balthazar (1966) were ranked among the 100 greatest films ever made in a 2012 critics' poll. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music."
Bresson's early artistic focus was to separate the language of cinema from that of the theater, which often relies heavily upon the actor's performance to drive the work. With his 'actor-model' technique, Bresson's actors were required to repeat multiple takes of each scene until all semblances of 'performance' were stripped away, leaving a stark effect. This, as well as Bresson's restraint in musical scoring, had a significant influence on minimalist cinema.
Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and Au hasard Balthazar (1966) were ranked among the 100 greatest films ever made in a 2012 critics' poll. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music."
Robert Bresson adapted from Wikipedia and licensed by The Cultural Me under CC BY SA 3.0