Bresson "A Man Escaped" at CSUN

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Nothing much to report today, except for tonight's movie at CSUN, which was "A Man Escaped" by Robert Bresson (1956). The professor stated before the film that a lot of people consider it to be Bresson's masterpiece. Though I would reserve that accolade for "Diary Of A Country Priest", I can see why some would choose this film. It certainly is a high point of his paired down style and "perfect fit" editing. Each shot fits into the next as if it was machined, like gears turning or perfectly cut puzzle pieces. A young French Resistance officer is in a German prison, planning his seemingly impossible escape. The camera shows only parts of him at a time: his face and eyes as he waits for the right moment to chip away at his wooden cell door; then cut straight to he hands as he does so. It's the total Bresson style, where every single shot counts, and though everything is simple and nothing is showy, it is all done with Swiss Watch precision. And it is this precision that creates the tension in the film, which plays out as a thriller in the last 20 minutes.

My favorite is "Country Priest" because of it's profound spiritual content and also because the film creates a feeling that the viewer exists within it's world. "A Man Escaped" does this too, mainly because of the incredible black and white photography and hyper realistic sound design, but is less a poetic film than a tense, action oriented one, even if the action mostly takes place in a small enclosure. It feels like you are in the prison cell with this guy, and the spirituality comes from his unrelenting effort to free himself - his faith against all odds.

It is a claustrophobic film gradually stepping toward freedom, and the determination to reach his goal shows in the lead character's eyes.

Bresson is a filmmaker who should be studied - watched and re-watched - as much for what he does to tell a story as for what he doesn't do. The look of what is in each frame and the way shots are edited one into the next are possibly even more important than the dialogue.

It's almost as if they are silent films. Though they aren't, you could watch a Bresson film without sound and still know what was happening to a significant degree. That's how big a part the mise-en-scene (staging of shots in each frame from scene to scene) plays in his films. ////

I hope your day was good as always. I Love You.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo