BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983

Robert Bresson’s NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPH is, to me, an essential volume for anyone interested in visual narrative: he thought very deeply about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. But, in that book, his vision appears austere, almost dogmatic. BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983 presents him very differently. He is still determined, still firmly opinionated, but it brings forth the sense that he believed his work to be not rigid. It was alive:

What struck me in the films that I saw when I was still going to the cinema was that everything had been planned in advance, prepared down to the smallest detail—the actors had studied their roles, etc. A painter never knows in advance what his canvas will become, or a sculptor his sculpture, or a poet his poem.

For all his cinematographic rules and borders, he considered his work to be always evolving, changing and growing into its chosen shapes:

You have to let the film look at itself from every direction, and try to follow what it’s becoming as it creates itself. Whereas films that are executions of preconceived plans are not, and never will be, more than mere craft.

I think it’s important to work first, think after. One should not attempt the reverse.

It’s a completely different angle on his work, for me. And it’s full of observations and ideas from a lifetime of studying his form.

I don’t have theories. I reflect after the fact. I work first. I get surprised.

And, again and again, he reinforced the notion that cinema is not an artform of images, but of relationships between images.

…all techniques should remain invisible.

I also particularly enjoyed this exchange between Bresson and Jean-Luc Godard:

J-LG It must be said that the theater is older. It’s existed for so long, we have a hard time not referring to it.

RB Yes, and to think that it still exists. And those people who think, who sometimes write (I’ve even read this recently) that silent films are the only pure cinema! Imagine!

J-LG They say that, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that when they watch a silent film they can’t stand it!

RB And what I was saying goes a lot further: There was never such a thing as silent film! It never existed! Because people still spoke, they just spoke into the void, we didn’t hear what they were saying. So please don’t say that we created a silent style! It’s absurd.

You can certainly use this book to gain new views on Bresson’s work, or even to be introduced to it – we luckily live in a time where you can keep a networked device by your side to enact searches on referenced pieces. I made Kindle highlights so I could do searches on the laptop the next day. But, for anyone interested in visual narrative of any kind, it is a rich tour of one expert’s thoughts and processes in the field, and immensely valuable as well as generally being entertaining and provocative.

BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983 (UK) (US+)