tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post2092901250307070425..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Robert Bresson: CinemaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-19715997373073259122011-03-13T07:05:18.671-07:002011-03-13T07:05:18.671-07:00Steve,
Were anything like a Bressonian attention ...Steve,<br /><br />Were anything like a Bressonian attention to formality, restraint, and, above all, the mysterious dignity and strange pathos of the human, to be brought to the making of movies today, it would indeed represent a miraculous transformation of the medium -- almost a Bressonian miracle one might say.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-77310293077200187752011-03-12T11:58:01.212-08:002011-03-12T11:58:01.212-08:00Ought to be required reading for all directors. S...Ought to be required reading for all directors. Some would disagree with specifics (for instance, regarding how actors should understand--or not understand, assign no meaning to--their lines...I had heard this before in some review of Au Hasard Balthazar), but even a well-understood disagreement would, as usual, bring clarity.stevefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00755785922971537042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-26257894918092934132010-08-30T02:56:58.730-07:002010-08-30T02:56:58.730-07:00Sandra,
Pelicula and film are really the same wor...Sandra,<br /><br />Pelicula and film are really the same word -- a skin, a membrane, originally from a Greek word for skin or animal hide. <br /><br />This seems fair enough:<br /><br />Una película es una obra de arte cinematográfica que emite una historia de manera audiovisual, por medio de una secuencia de imágenes y sonidos...<br /><br />"Movie" is perhaps a bit confusing, since the images and sounds sometimes (especially in Bresson, who purposefully isolates them) literally "stand still...", if only for moments... but of course those moments can seem almost eternal.<br /><br /><br />Monty,<br /><br />Sorry, I'm afraid I can't help. The piece as I present it is edited from a hand transcription I made some years back from a borrowed videotape of that interview; it may have been transcribed elsewhere, and perhaps even published, but if so, I'm not aware of it.<br /><br />(By the by, in the past week I've actually seen some of Bresson's comments from this post quoted elsewhere on the internet, and attributed to, of all people, Salvador Dali. Mutatis mutandi...)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-44126681943602217162010-08-30T01:29:42.585-07:002010-08-30T01:29:42.585-07:00Is the original interview available anywhere do yo...Is the original interview available anywhere do you know?Montyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06182195770748435789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-18300037079750178932010-08-26T10:55:56.256-07:002010-08-26T10:55:56.256-07:00now I am thinking about the the words film-movie-c...now I am thinking about the the words film-movie-cinema..we only have películaSandra.ifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07861930312460679629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-34443095063495666302010-08-24T06:08:52.504-07:002010-08-24T06:08:52.504-07:00well enough comments..
and speaking to "diein...well enough comments..<br />and speaking to "dieing on paper"<br />and teaching ...anything:<br /><br />"The Tao that can be told/taught is not the eternal Tao"<br /><br />and this "little" poem that Cid (Corman) wrote and was published in New Directions 34 in 1977<br /><br />As though mountains existed<br />for valleys to persist in-<br />as through the silence lifted<br /><br />underneath a music of<br />articulate soundings. We<br />may reach summits and plant flags-<br /><br />but come back down to live where<br />word of it matters. We have<br />to die in order to live.<br /><br />(something about "Ed Baker" over on today's Geof Huth blog...<br />gotta run.<br /> ciaooEd Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71650147186225704602010-08-24T06:01:06.888-07:002010-08-24T06:01:06.888-07:00I think Bresson's techniques and effects could...I think Bresson's techniques and effects could be and indeed have been exhaustively taught. But Bresson himself considered techniques and effects to be trivial. The drive in the films and in the philosophical approach that lies behind them has to do with spiritual motives as well as aesthetic motives; or rather, for Bresson, it is all one unified motive. In this he is singular, and stands alone, and his genius is thus particular and probably could not be taught. After departing from conventional cinema following his disastrous experience with the grand actress Maria Casares in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, he made a cinema that is to all intents and purposes self-created.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-19015325904795843242010-08-24T05:45:22.143-07:002010-08-24T05:45:22.143-07:00Curtis, I agree, the idea of this being taught is ...Curtis, I agree, the idea of this being taught is questionable. I think more accurately I should have said 'made aware of'..https://www.blogger.com/profile/00532376301529981186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-13993903150104377302010-08-24T04:28:34.687-07:002010-08-24T04:28:34.687-07:00On my way out of the house, I caught the last two ...On my way out of the house, I caught the last two additions here. I'm grateful for the new Bressonia (including the Godard quote) and agree with Leigh, but wonder whether something like this can ever be "taught"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-75972243632622593452010-08-24T03:26:52.242-07:002010-08-24T03:26:52.242-07:00Tom, this is great. Bresson should be required rea...Tom, this is great. Bresson should be required reading (and viewing) at all art schools. His ideas are important across the board. Thanks for this..https://www.blogger.com/profile/00532376301529981186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-17885781349325570662010-08-24T00:31:09.141-07:002010-08-24T00:31:09.141-07:00And while we're here, a few loose bits of Bres...And while we're here, a few loose bits of Bressoniana: two further remarks from the director himself:<br /> <br />1) My movie is born first in my head, dies on paper; is resuscitated by the living persons and real objects I use, which are killed on film but, placed in a certain order and projected on to a screen, come to life again like flowers in water.<br /><br />*<br /> <br />2) The most ordinary word, when put into place, suddenly acquires brilliance. That is the brilliance with which your images must shine.<br /><br />___ <br /><br />And this comment from Jean-Luc Godard:<br /> <br />Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-1652484434446435592010-08-23T15:50:41.083-07:002010-08-23T15:50:41.083-07:00thanks Tom...!thanks Tom...!Sandra.ifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07861930312460679629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30385601602791784982010-08-23T14:06:30.997-07:002010-08-23T14:06:30.997-07:00That would be alright with me, Sandra.That would be alright with me, Sandra.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-22672054165773155682010-08-23T10:17:53.996-07:002010-08-23T10:17:53.996-07:00this is so interesting...I would like to make a li...this is so interesting...I would like to make a link and also translate in my blog<br />http://www.videoclublaoficina.blogspot.comSandra.ifhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07861930312460679629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-36453033861078016302010-08-23T08:03:00.362-07:002010-08-23T08:03:00.362-07:00And this one, noted by Curtis: "I ask [the pe...And this one, noted by Curtis: "I ask [the performers] to learn their lines while ignoring their meaning, as if they didn't have a meaning, as if they were just syllables. The meaning comes upon them unaware." And also that comment on the actors "looking at the chalk marks."STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-60396461263748397852010-08-23T07:55:24.137-07:002010-08-23T07:55:24.137-07:00Tom,
Great to see more from Bresson: "I exp...Tom,<br /><br />Great to see more from Bresson: "I explain nothing." "In any case, I never want to explain anything." " I want to make things so concentrated and so unified that the spectator feels as if he has seen one single moment." Sounds as if Notes on the Cinematographer is something we all should read. . . .STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-62131758624232990132010-08-23T05:34:01.111-07:002010-08-23T05:34:01.111-07:00GREAT!
I ordered a NEW copy via amazon for $8.75....GREAT!<br /><br />I ordered a NEW copy via amazon for $8.75...Imagine that.<br /><br />what I shall do with my next Social Security check is go directly to Green Integer and buy some "stuff" from them... AT FULL PRICE.<br /><br />meanwhile<br /><br />I saw the book as you link to it..<br /><br />however<br />I jus' Kant read books "virtually" on this tv screen!<br /><br />gotta be able to hold in my hands like my Muses<br /><br />run my finger through and through...<br /> their pages and<br />put <br />here<br />and<br />there<br />my<br />own<br />marks <br />in/on<br /><br />like<br />cattle<br /><br />sssssssssssssssss<br /><br />I<br />burn<br />into<br />the<br />flesh<br /><br />my<br />own<br /> (or some such crap!)Ed Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-82146401359075597052010-08-23T05:24:26.181-07:002010-08-23T05:24:26.181-07:00(The Green Integer edition reprints the Griffin tr...(The Green Integer edition reprints the Griffin translation from the Urizen edition.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-52894867958659852032010-08-23T05:22:05.865-07:002010-08-23T05:22:05.865-07:00TOM
you know
those 24 + years when I dropped out
...TOM<br /><br />you know<br />those 24 + years when I dropped out<br /> 1976-1998?<br /><br />well,<br /><br />now that I have 'dropped back in' I am reading, writing, drawing/painting, sculpting<br /><br />as fast as I can<br /><br />and, these days<br /><br />all that I ask of myself is<br /><br />that I don't fart in public!Ed Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-63625187335653454752010-08-23T05:17:52.837-07:002010-08-23T05:17:52.837-07:00Ed,
That's a very great book indeed. In fact ...Ed,<br /><br />That's a very great book indeed. In fact I think it could usefully replace all the existing libraries of academic film theory.<br /><br />The translation I prefer is Jonathan Griffin's, commonly available from Urizen Books.<br /><br />The entire book, in the Griffin translation, is readily accessible as a PDF <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/30654257/Notes-on-Cinematography-Robert-Bresson" rel="nofollow">here</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-5369708109413871542010-08-23T04:58:09.007-07:002010-08-23T04:58:09.007-07:00copies of this book are yet "out there":...copies of this book are yet "out there":<br /><br />Notes On the Cinematographer<br /><br />http://www.greeninteger.com/book.cfm?-Robert-Bresson-Notes-on-the-Cinematographer-&BookID=4<br /><br />first thought that comes and goes through my mind:<br /><br />words and images only nearly<br /><br /> "only nearly" What?<br /><br />only nearly approximateEd Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-16601562389455748632010-08-23T03:12:20.567-07:002010-08-23T03:12:20.567-07:00Curtis,
I had hoped this piece -- which by the wa...Curtis,<br /><br />I had hoped this piece -- which by the way hasn't to my knowledge appeared in print before, at least in English -- might have resonance for you.<br /><br />Since seeing Au hasard, balthazar in a little arts cinema in Cambridge when it first came out, I've held Bresson in mind as a kind of gold standard in the art.<br /><br />Cinematography, as he calls it.<br /><br />On the subject of rhythm, which you pick up on, there's this bit from an interview with Charles Thomas Samuel (1970):<br /><br />Bresson: My style is natural to me. You see, I want to make things so concentrated and so unified that the spectator feels as if he has seen one single moment. I control all speech and gesture so as to produce an object that is indivisible. Because I believe that one moves an audience only through rhythm, concentration, and unity.<br /><br />And on the issue of moral purpose, which you also mention, certainly his work always did seem to stand out from its time, representing something of a solitary voice.<br /><br />Bresson related metaphysical and theological mystery with aesthetic mystery in a common embrace of faith: <br /><br />S: You have often expressed contempt for psychology. Yet you keep talking about the mystery of personality in ways that sound psychological. What's the difference between what you want to understand and what the psychologist wants to understand?<br /><br />B: The psychologist discovers only what he can explain. I explain nothing.<br /><br />S: You are a person with no preconceptions.<br /><br />B: None at all.<br /><br />S: Whereas psychology is a closed system, whose premises dictate its method. Therefore, it discovers evidence in support of a preexisting theory of human behavior.<br /><br />B: If I succeed at all, I suppose some of what I show on the screen will be psychologically valid, even though I am not quite aware of it. But of course, I don't always succeed. In any case, I never want to explain anything. The trouble with most films is that they explain everything.<br /><br />S: That's why one can go back to your films.<br /><br />B: If there is something good in a film, one must see it at least twice. A film doesn't give its best the first time.<br /><br />S: I think that many of your ideas are a consequence of your Christianity. Am I right in saying that you pursue mystery without worrying that the audience will be baffled because you believe that we all partake of one essential soul?<br /><br />B: Of course. Of course.<br /><br />S: So that every viewer is fundamentally the same viewer.<br /><br />B: Of course. What I am very pretentiously trying to capture is this essential soul, as you call it.<br /><br />S: Do you believe that there is anybody that does not partake in this essential soul, for example, is an atheist outside your audience?<br /><br />B: No, he is not. Besides, there are no real atheists.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-44206595423545574322010-08-22T17:13:27.003-07:002010-08-22T17:13:27.003-07:00I love all of this. Bresson's remarks, in the...I love all of this. Bresson's remarks, in their lucidity, precision, unpretentiousness and underlying sense of moral purpose, remind me a lot of Dorthea Lange's words included in “We’ve Been Blown Out”. <br /><br />His comment: <br /><br />"I ask [the performers] to learn their lines while ignoring their meaning, as if they didn't have a meaning, as if they were just syllables. The meaning comes upon them unaware.",<br /><br />and the things he says about rhythm remind me of something similar I read in Matthew Modine's book about working with Stanley Kubrick on Full Metal Jacket regarding Kubrick’s absolute focus on presenting an intended cadence that married with the meaning of the words being spoken.<br /><br />The exchange with the interviewer ending with:<br /><br />"They are looking at the chalk marks.",<br /><br />is really true and fine.<br /><br />Speaking as a terrible actor, someone who can’t actually move and speak lines in any sort of coordination at the same time, but who, like most people I think, loves movies deeply, this is really inspiring. It worries me a bit that the uppermost image from A Man Escaped reminds me of me.<br /><br />CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30685642740662241342010-08-22T08:39:01.338-07:002010-08-22T08:39:01.338-07:00http://web.archive.org/web/20021130085634/http://m...http://web.archive.org/web/20021130085634/http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze25jh7/<br /><br />I could add <br />something more here<br />however,<br />I have to pee<br /><br /><br />and check my emails...<br />all two of them!Ed Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-89801870235907222342010-08-22T08:05:03.318-07:002010-08-22T08:05:03.318-07:00Tom,
Yes, "scene was on the paper . . . ever...Tom,<br /><br />Yes, "scene was on the paper . . . everything you say happens . . . camera simply records . . . drama is created in the cutting room . . ." ---<br /><br /><br />8.22<br /><br />grey whiteness of fog against invisible<br />ridge, motion of green leaves on branch<br />in foreground, wave sounding in channel<br /><br /> “presence” where in thinking,<br /> position of thing as is<br /><br /> in some way, that would look,<br /> an idea of meaning real<br /><br />grey-white of fog against top of ridge,<br />cormorant flapping across toward pointSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.com