Robert Bresson: Firmly Down Upon This Specific Satellite

All that I am, and all that I shall be, is myself and the word upon which my character finds equanimity; and here is truth.

Saw this film once again on the off chance that I might be missing something. I missed nothing. The photography is stunning. The casting, the location shoots, the craft services - - all, I am certain, tremendous. From Agamemnon, King of Mycenae to Travis Bickle, King of New York; from Lady Clytemnestra to Lady Macbeth; from Philip of Macedon to Philip Spector to Philip J. Fry, one element has remained present in all in spite of such divergent styles of live - - they all behave accordingly, as human beings do behave. Read their stories, starting with the savagely brilliant stage play, "Orestia," featuring Agamemnon & his unhappy, net-happy wife, Clytemnestra; a relatively quick read written nearly 2500 years ago. Tis bloody good fun. You will find that each character acts as one would today if those same circumstances presented themselves to equivalent persons suffering similar injustices.

Human nature does not tend to change. It does however in this particular film. A film that sets out to tell a story without the need of that too-oft-thought-clever perpendicular coring technique of film storytelling. The film does relent, and does so to even the most elementary of engagements, as per the français trend of the time. This damages what could have been a near perfect film, transforming Bresson's work into a merely brilliant exposition on film. C'est la cinema.

Robert Bresson did better work that this. He might've offered a better product in 1966 if he were working with a producer who had one or both of his or her feet planted firmly down upon this specific satellite.

I give this flawed masterwork 11 bananas.


—PmCƒ(×)