August 29, 2005
I saw Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar last night. What an incredible film (and what an incredible transfer, Criterion)! Suffice to say, it's now my favorite Bresson picture. The multitude of bells at the end...my god. And on a purely reactionary level, it's the most intellectually stimulating example of that horrible (and true) adage about how all one has to do to move an audience is take a puppy and wring its neck.
I watched it with my mom, and while we both thought it was profound, our perspectives on its meaning were strikingly different. I saw it as a story of transcendence, she as a portrayal of a world in which god, or any other form of divinity, is entirely absent. The appearance of the sheep at the end seemed to me to be an almost obvious use of Christ imagery; to her, the slight possibility of this symbolism was refuted by the way the way they seen to mindlessly abandon the donkey on the hillside in those final moments. These disparate reactions are, from what I understand, fairly representative of the most common interpretations of the film, and I think that what ultimately makes it so beautiful is that it is completely open to - and supportive of - whatever the audience wishes to bring to it. I guess, in my case, my essential optimisim shone through in my perspective, whereas my mom - well this is, after all, the same mom who told me she preferred Nine Inch Nails' original version of Hurt to Johnny Cash's cover because Cash made the song sound too hopeful.
So how about a few words on my history with Bresson up to this point? I've been exploring all of films over the past few months, thanks to Matt's initial insistence that I see A Man Escaped back in the spring. While his work very strongly appeals to me, I've also found that I always cannot help but resist it. The films eventually win me over, to varying degrees, but I'm generally unable to embrace them wholeheartedly. I think his style (which often goes hand in hand with his thematic material) is extremely ascetic, and this is something that can be difficult to respond to. He gets under your skin, though; I'm consistently drawn to back to his films.
The asceticisim especially intrigued me in the case of Diary Of A Country Priest. The film struck me almost immediately as a direct precedent to Bergman's Winter Light (it's no coincidence - on the commentary track for the Criterion edition ofDiary DVD, Peter Cowie points out that Bergman was inspired by the Bresson picture, although it's anyone's guess as to the precise extent one influenced the other; in my reading, I've come across very few references to Bresson on Bergman's part, aside from, incidentally, his distaste for Balthazar). Both films essentially tell the same story, and both are concerned with presenting religious faith as a painful, joyless (and, indeed, passionate) phenomenon; beyond that, however, the two directors seemed to have completely different takes on this theological content, represented not just in the scripts but in their style. I began research last month for a paper that would examine these differences, and use them to elucidate the intentions that might have been behind the overall style - and style of approach - of each director. Unfortunately, I've had to set this endeavor aside for the time being, after deciding that I should be as familiar with Bresson as I am Bergman before I truly begin to compare their work, and that I might also need to read the novel on which Bresson's film is based, and perhaps some of the works of Thomas Aquinas and/or the Confessions Of St. Augustine (which I actually did start a while back) so that I might better manage to explain these two discourses on faith by contrasting them with established creed (with that in mind, Bergman's Lutheranism put yet another knot in my plans). I've realized that I simply don't have the time to dedicate to such a project at this point (as a concentrated effort, that is). So it's on the backburner; and if any of you Bresson experts have any recommendations on books about the man or his films that you feel I must read, please do recommend them, so that I can add them to my list.. In the meantime, I'm very much enjoying this ongoing game tug-of-war with his films; in the case of Au Hasard Balthazar, for the first time, he beat me outright.
Posted by David Lowery at August 29, 2005 12:29 AM
Comments
David--This is my all-time fave movie. I've seen it three times, on the big screen. I'm so happy it's now on DVD.
There's an absolutely wonderful collection of writings on Bresson that I can heartily recommend. It has a couple of essays on the film plus a long interview with Bresson about the film conducted by Godard.
Posted by: girish at August 29, 2005 5:34 AM
You're not trying to write a paper, David--you're trying to write a book (by the sounds of it)!
I've seen no more Bresson than I had when I suggested A Man Escaped (one of my all-time favourites), though I did wind up seeing Winter Light on your (and Austin's) recommendation. It was my favourite Bergman yet (Shame came close as well) and your constant comparison of it to The Diary of a Country Priest, which I fully resisted the first time I saw it (i.e. before I saw A Man Escaped), really makes me want to revist the Bresson picture.
So much to see, so little time. I often feel like killing myself now to avoid future disappointment at my movie watching efforts.
Posted by: Matt at August 29, 2005 8:36 AM
excellent post to start off my morning!
my list of films to purchase gets longer...
Posted by: brad at August 29, 2005 10:26 AM
Thanks for the recommendation, Girish - the other one I want to pick up is A Transcendental Style in Film by Paul Shrader, and Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style In Film by Joseph Cuneen (although actually I hear that one isn't so great) . I can totally understand how this could by anyone's favorite film; it's stature grows in my mind the more I think about it, and I can't wait to (be able to afford to) buy it, so I'll have it on hand.
Matt - I don't know that I have it in me yet to write a book. Maybe a monograph of sorts? My obsession with covering my bases as far as research goes has less to to do with inclusiveness in the final product than it does with just making sure I'm not misrepresenting something - passing up the opportunity to make some delightfully pedagogical reference, of course!
I've been meaning to ask you about Shame. I would actually have bet on it beating the rest as far as being your favorite Bergman film, and kept forgetting to recommend it to you right up to your report back from BIFF, when I saw that you had indeed seen it (and on the big screen!). It's one of Bergman's finest pictures, and on top of his usual themes, I thought it tied in particularly well to many of your current interests. It's his only overtly political film, I think (although The Silence has undertones - heavy emphasis on 'under' - and actually, I think you'd quite like that as well).
Posted by: Ghostboy at August 29, 2005 9:51 PM
I actually didn't see it at BIFF! It was one of three or four films I saw in the week that BIFF began (I saw it the night before I left for Brisbane) and thus didn't get put in a 'Week in Review' post until the festival was over.
I actually think Shame would make a pretty interesting double feature with Godard's Les Carabiniers. I much prefer Shame though, of course. Towards the end it's just...shocking, I guess is the right word: it's just shocking.
Posted by: Matt at August 30, 2005 4:42 AM
Many thanks for your wonderful write-up of this film, David. I'm tracking down a copy now....
Posted by: Nick at August 30, 2005 8:16 AM