1934

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

14

Leenhardt, Roger, 'Le Cinéma: 'Affaires publiques'', Esprit 27 (December), 497-499  The only contemporary review of this lost film that I was able to locate. Leenhardt criticizes it for having a "hesitant point of view", unnatural acting that leaves the audience too uninvolved, and dialogue that "seems to have been conceived independently of the visual effects." But he admires it, too, and compares it to Chaplin's films, which "go beyond race and class" through the use of a "universal language." Affaires publiques, though hermetic, is never affected; it "dares" to be serious and so succeeds in being provoking.

1943

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

15	Audiberti, Jacques, [Review of 'Les Anges du péché'], Comoedia, 105 (3 july)  Cited in entry 75. Excerpted in entry 557.

16

Jaquier, Claude, 'Le Cinéma', Confluences 3, no. 27 (December), 790-791  Les Anges du péché is discussed in a roundup of recent successes. The film is admired for its documentary-like details of convent life (credited to the inside knowledge of R.P. Brückberger) and the curious interplay among these realistic details, but criticized for Giraudoux's artificial dialogue and an "insipid" plot.

1944

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

17	Kedeland, 'Le Cas de Robert Bresson', Comoedia 156  Cited in entry 645.

18	Kerdebond, J. de, [Review of 'Les Anges du péché'], Comoedia 156 (8 July)  Cited in entry 75.

1945

BOOK

19

Guth, Paul, Autour des 'Dames du Bois de Boulogne': journal d'un film, Paris: Juillard, 197 pp.  Journalistic account of the making of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne. Includes an interview with Jean Cocteau, who declares that he did the film only out of friendship for Bresson, having no sympathy for Diderot or the subject matter. He wrote "next to nothing", in any case, but enjoyed the discipline of doing something against his inclinations. Also includes interviews with and lengthy descriptions of the functions of most who worked on the film (including Maria Casarès and Raoul Ploquin), as well as detailed accounts of each day's shooting and the exchanges that took place between Bresson and the actors and crew.

SHORTER WRITINGS

20	Barrot, Jean Pierre, 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', L'Ecran Français 13 (26 september), 5  A primarily literary review that blames the failure of the film on a weak script (the origin of which is traced back to the original Diderot story) and the "unreal literary sound" of the Cocteau dialogue.

21

Becker, Jacques, 'Hommage à Robert Bresson', L'Ecran Français 16 (17 October), 3, 14  Becker, the film director, explains that he does not usually write about films, but feels compelled to respond to a previously published negative review (see entry 20) of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne. He counters the complaints of a poorly motivated script and characters "who come and go, look, sit, rise, go up and down stairs, take the elevator, and exchange laconic words in a strange language," by saying that this "strangeness" is one of the main components of the film's entirely "new style," which "owes nothing to any other person or any other films." Becker's heartfelt praise appears to be the first important public defense of Bresson's art.

22

Chamine, 'Le Cinéma', La NEF 2, no. 12 (November), 155-56  Review of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne: The female leads give good performances and the film is admirably shot, but the story is of little interest and "unfortunately" directed by Bresson, whose great care in filming has resulted in a work that "seems oily, and a little rancid."

23	La Croix, Jean-Yves, 'Le Cinéma', Esprit 13 (December), 988-989  In a roundup of recent films, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne is given a paragraph of summary and found to be "a little boring".

24

Marion, Denis, 'Les Spectacles: 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Combat (26 September), 2  Review that describes the film as cold and too abstract, but admires the stylistic unity that Bresson has imposed. Marion uses it as an example of the French cinema's continuing "nourishment of high ambitions and confidence in the intelligence of the public".

25

Néry, Jean, 'Les Spectacles: Le cinéma: 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Le Monde (30 September - 1 October), 3  Negative review: "A head without a heart, a spirit without a soul". The "dramatic spring" of the plot is "completely false" (along with the costumes and acting), and provokes laughter instead of the more appropriate tears.

26	Sadoul, Georges, 'Le Cinéma: 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Lettres Françaises (29 September), 5  Review that blames the failure of the film on Bresson's distance: Such perfection in isolation is an acceptable tone for Les Anges du péché, but not suitable for this tale of love and vengeance.

27	Sadoul, Georges, 'Article on 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Poésie 45, no. 28  Cited in entry 68.

1946

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

28

Charensol, Georges, 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', In: Renaissance du Ciné Français, Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire, 76-80  After placing Bresson in "the first rank", Charensol considers that Bresson's strongest point is his directing of actors. But the doorways, stairwells and elevators are too distracting a "game" and detract from the seriousness of the effort.

29	Oueval, Jean, 'Deux jeunes maîtres du cinéma français: Robert Bresson et George Rouquier', Formes et Couleurs 8, no. 6, 4  General account of the filmic styles of these two "examples of the new era of auteurs" who strive to counter the cinema's prejudice against simplicity".

30

Oueval, Jean, 'Dialogue avec Robert Bresson', L'Écran Français 72 (12 November), 12  An often quoted interview and the first known public expression by Bresson of his aesthetic: "It's the interior that commands. I know that must seem paradoxical in an art that is all exterior... . Only the knots that tie and unwind within a character can give the film movement". Also includes statements on color, sound, artistic collaboration, and other films.

31

Pouillon, Jean M., 'À propos des 'Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Temps Modernes 4 (January), 756-760  The film itself is not considered here so much as what Pouillon calls a "misunderstanding" between the director and the audience, which snickered throughout the screening. Pouillon suggests that the psychology of the film is real enough to make people feel uncomfortable while watching it, but thinks that the transposed eighteenth-century setting and the unexplained "idleness" of the characters allow the audience the ease of a good laugh, and so produce the wrong reaction.

1947

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

32	[Anon.], 'Robert Bresson', Revue Vergers no. 1 (2nd quarter) [Published in the French occupation zone at Baden-Baden]  Cited in entry 714.

1948

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

33

Régent, Roger, 'L'Un des plus grands films de ces quatre années: 'Les Anges du péché'' In: Cinéma de France, Paris: Éditions Bellefaye, 162-169  Extensive account of the film's background, the circumstances of the initial contract and early production, the actresses' previous work, Giraudoux's crusade to give the cinema "a new language", and a description of the film's ad campaign in Marseilles. The criticism is general, centering on the notion that "madness, and not religion, constitutes the theme of the film".

34

Régent, Roger, 'Le Style de Robert Bresson', In: Cinéma de France, Paris: Éditions Bellefaye, 275-278  Contends that Bresson has perfected an intelligent, dense style resembling that of no other director in France. But in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne he has "polished an elegant finish to a coldness that is hostile to the spectator".

1949

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

35*	Brune Klaus, [Review of Les Anges du péché], Film-Dienst der Jugend, no. 244 (10 March)  Cited in entry 687.

36

Campassi, Oswaldo, 10 anni di cinema francese. Vol. 2., Milano: Poligoni Società Editrice, 136-138  A rare desription of Affaires publiques, which I will quote at lenght. After placing the film hostorically in the avant-garde and surrealist school, Campassi continues: "With this film, Bresson enters decisively into an absurd and foolish world ... that even so retains links which are always identifiable with reality.   "In this fantasy, the director investigates with a clear grip and intentions of satire the crazy events of the dictator of the legendary country of Crogandia. The tone of the satire, however, is cold and extreme within itself. Bresson is an auteur who has his own conceptions, which are very precise, and must be adhered to. Here is his statement: 'I would not begin a film without having imagined its scenario .... In my imagination, I have composed the scenario, directed the actors, in short, I have assumed all of my responsibilities. In my opinion, the errors of directing always depend on lack of precision. But in my own case, before undertaking my film, I have already known it by heart.'   "So in Crogandia, the most absurd events are seen calmly and placidly, and the most extravagant inventions are followed as if they have happened and were completely normal events. The fire brigade dances a minuette and tries to set fire to a house so that they they may then give proof of their bravery; but the house, terrified, flees. Decorated by the dictator of Crogandia, the head of the fire brigade is forced to cut his full beard in order to see the decorations which he has received. The princess Miremi falls from an airplane, but suffers no injury. The statue of the dictator is dedicated by the dictator himself and a corps de balletdances in honor of the occasion; then, during the address, everyone falls into a deep sleep, and the yawning statue of the dictator warns the dictator that it is time to stop.   "As a French critic has noted, the characteristic of Affaires publiques is 'the reversal of objects.' Objects are not accepting of the quiet and light follies of men; Instead they are animated and react. This is evidenced by the dictator who would like to 'dedicate himself' at any cost, and by an ocean liner, which rather than being launched with sparkling wine, prefers to sink.   "All of the contents of this frenetic caprice unfold in a rarified and magical climate .... The images are characterized by infinite meanings of which one could give a hundred interpretations. Affaires publiquesreaffirms the fundamental characteristic of the avant-garde school: its rule is to never have any rules. But we must recognize in Bresson an acute and unrestrained intelligence, a grotesque sense of subtle characters, and an extreme agility in this unreal and completely invented world.   Another statement from the director: 'I almost never have worked in the prose theater. I have pleased myself to search scenographically in the open. I have found this easy, since I have not needed more than a wall, a tree, a sky. I did not attempt an artistic film, and the poetry must only be born from a certain continuity of my intentions. This is why I choose Beby for the role of the dictator of Crogandia; he arrived at his characterization for me by himself, and I could not perceive of the film without him. Should I perhaps have made him and the other actors 'recite'? Given that I attribute importance to action, it seemed simple to make them 'act,'"

1951

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

37

Agel, Henri, 'Robert Bresson ou l'enfer du style', Téléciné 25, 6 pp.  Discusses Les Anges du péché and Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne as tragedy in the style of Racine, a style outside of time or any presentation of the concrete. But Journal d'un curé de campagne, while "inspiring" in itself, is a "muted tragedy" that goes too far in its denial of the vividness of Bernanos's novel. By being too literal and severe, Bresson has failed to recreate Bernanos's deep and Christian sense of "human pity." (See also entry 42.)

38

[Anon.], 'Conversation avec Robert Bresson', Opéra (14 february), 7  Short interview: Bresson speaks very generally about Journal d'un curé de campagne and his project on the life of Ignatius Loyola. "As for my film, don't look to it to explain anything, find in it simply the soul of a child, to see and to hear."

39*	[Anon.], 'Débat sur 'Le Journal d'un curé de campagne'', Récherches et Débats, Supplement Lettres et Arts, 15 (March)  Cited in entry 557. Interview with Bresson.

40*	[Anon.], [Interview with Bresson], Cinéma (1 October)  Cited in entry 71.

*41	[Anon.], [Review of 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'], Radio-Cinéma (11 February)  Cited in entry 75.

42

Arbois, Janick, 'Journal d'un curé de campagne', Téléciné 25, 11 pp. [Fiche filmographique, no. 158]  A long, detailed analysis of the film, including a list of the scenes edited from the original three-hour version, why Bresson chose them, and a section on the insufficiencies and difficulties (due to the ellipses in the plot) of it in relation to the novel. Arbois argues to disprove Agel's contention (see entry 37) that the film's problem is a too literal underlining of the book (because of the overlapping of the narration and the images), but eventually agrees with his conclusion that the film is "spiritually impoverished" in comparison with it. This, he claims, is due to Bresson's passion for unity and stylistic rigor at the expense of the social and pastoral aspects of the subject and an accompanying reliance on key phrases ("all is grace") to communicate what he has been unable to demonstrate.

43	Bazin, André, 'Cinéma et théologie', Esprit (February), 237-248  Les Anges du péché is discussed briefly as an example of the use of exemplary spiritual lives to illustrate the moral, intellectual, and social aspects of Catholicism.

44	Bazin, André, ''Le Journal d'un curé de campagne' et la stylistique de Robert Bresson', Cahiers du cinéma 3 (June), 7-22   Reprinted: entry 166. Translated into English: entries 368, 433, 689; into German: entry 701. See entry 368 for annotation.

45	Béguin, Albert, 'Bernanos au cinéma', Esprit (February), 248-52  Béguin, a Bernanos critic, writes of Journal d'un curé de campagne as an "audaciously severe film," and discusses the extreme differences in style between it and the novel. These differences, he maintains, do not detract from either.

46	Béguin, Albert, 'L'Adaptation du 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'', Glanes 18 (May-June), 24-28.  Essay similar to entry 45, though with a different emphasis on the development of the script. Includes specifics on the original Aurenche-Bost script and its failings.

47	Brasport, Michel, 'Journal d'un curé de campagne', La Table Ronde 39 (March), l70-73.  Generally favorable review, though critical of the repeating of information in both the sound and the image and of the flat "documentary tone."

48	Charensol, George, 'Le Cinéma: 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'', Les Nouvelles Littéraires 1223 (8 February), 8.  Characterizes the film and the novel as "two parallel works which never coincide" because of totally opposing treatments -- one classical, the other romantic.

49	Douchet, Jean, 'Bresson on Location', Sequence 13 (January), 6-8.  Short interview and longer description of Bresson's working methods on the set of Journal d' un curé de campagne. Describes the attitude of the crew toward Bresson as one of "ironic hostility.'

50	Duca, Lo, 'Une Acte de foi', Cahiers du Cinéma 1 (April), 45-47.  Positive review of Journal d'un curé de campagne: A "triumph" of poetic cinema with only one antecedent -- the work of Dreyer.

51	Ducrot, Oswald, 'Le Cinéma sauve son âme', Raccords 8.  Cited in entry 557.

52	Fayard, Jean, 'La Chronique du cinéma: 'Le Jounal d'un curé de campagne'', Opéra (14 February), 7.  Fayard tells of viewing the film as a juror for the Prix Delluc. The jurors were stunned by the sincerity of the film and voted on the first ballot, 10-4, to give it the prize.

53	Gautier, Julien, 'Journal d'un curé de campagne', Le Figaro (8 February), 6.  Admires the "attempt at depth" in the film. but is critical of the acting and the final image of the black cross.

54	Green, Julien, [Review of Journal d'un curé de campagne], Opéra (14 February).  Cited in entry 557. Green is a well-known novelist who later worked on a project with Bresson (see entry 98).

55	Hilleret, Jan, [Review of 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne'], Réflets du Cinéma (October).  Cited in entry 130.

56	Kyrou, Ado, 'Le Cinéma n'a pas besoin de Dieu', L'Age du Cinéma 1 (March).  Cited and partially reprinted in entry 312.

57

Lambert, Gavin, 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Séquence 13 (January), 41-43.  Positive review of this "avant-garde" film with one reservation: The flawless and complex poetry is marred by the final scene, which Paul Bernard "plays without passion . . [and which] suggests that Bresson begrudges what is in effect a happy ending and is doing all he a can to subvert its nature."

58	L'Herbier, Marcel, 'La Revolution du février', Combat (21, 24 March)  Cited in entry 557.

59	Magnan, Henry, ''Le Journal d'un curé de campagne' marquera une date dans l'histoire du cinéma', Le Monde (8 February), 8.  Positive review: A "detailed and sincere study of human experience."

60

Marroncle, Gérard, 'Les Anges du péché', Téléciné 25, 8 pp. [Fiche filmographique, no. 160.]  A study that sees the film as having two strains: the interior drama and love, which opposes Thérèse and Anne-Marie, and the documentary of convent life itself. Also briefly analyzed are the script (as compared to Julien Duvivier's La Charrette Fantôme), each character, the sets, dialogue, and Bresson's economical visual style.

61

Mauriac, Claude, 'Le Premier Film de la vie intérieure: 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'', Le Figaro Littéraire 251 (10 February)  A comparison of the film and the novel: Mauriac finds the adaptation deceptively simple, a line-by-line transformation, and declares it so good that Bresson could even be the adapter of Proust.

62

Mauriac, François, 'Journal d'un curé de campagne', Le Figaro (27 February), 1.  A front-page, poetic account of the "lesson in love" that the film brought to Mauriac. He claims the revelatory powers of the film come from Bresson's method of directing actors, which allows Claude Laydu to "become all else while remaining himself."

63	Pouillon, Jean, ''Le Journal d'un curé de campagne', film de Robert Bresson', Les Temps Modernes 66 (April), 1914-15.  A negative review of the film, which is simply seen as the "novel illustrated."

64	Roy, Jean-Henri, 'Bernanos et le cinéma', Les Temps Modernes 65 (March), l7l9-23.  Discussion of both novel and film version of Journal d'un curé de campagne that focuses on the moral aspects of the story. Includes varying judgments on the character of the curé as saintly or neurotic.

65	Sadoul, Georges, 'Robert Bresson, jansénist: 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'', Les Lettres Françaises (22 February), 6.  Review that sees the film as proof of Bresson's Jansenist stance -- in the care and rigor with which it is made and in Bresson's "passionate search . . . for abstract man."

66	Sengissen, Paul, 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Téléciné 25, 3 pp. [Fiche filmographique, no. 159.]  A brief fiche including the standard synopsis, character interpretations, dramatic analysis, and interpretation.

67	Yvoire, Jean d', 'Porte spirituelle du Journal d'un curé de campagne', Téléciné 25, 12-14  Discussion of the religious and moral aspets of the characters in both the film and the novel.

1952

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

68

Chardère, Bernard, 'A propos de Bresson . . . les rouages de la réalité', Positif 4, 43-48.  Second in a series of articles on Bresson (see entries 69-71). Chardère returns to the arguments of the introduction and discusses the critics' confusion over the ambiguities created by the clash of realism and artifice in Bresson's first three films.

69

Chardère, Bernard, 'A propos de Bresson: un art du suggestion: des visages à 1'àme', Positif, 3, 1-56.  The first part (see entries 68, 70-71) of wide-ranging series of essays on "classic cinema," defined as an ideal cinema of revelation. Chardère focuses on the notion that by minimizing the means employed, a filmmaker (through montage) can maximize the emotional response obtained. This response is generally a response to the revelation of character and rests significantly for Chardère on the use of close-ups of the character's face.

70

Chardère, Bernard, 'A propos de Bresson (Renoir, et quelque autres), ou les chemins du classicisme au cinéma; aux cent actes divers', Positif 5, 20-26.  In the last of a series of three articles (see entries 68, 69, 71), Chardère discusses classicism as a realist construction mediated by a particular kind of spectator participation. In Bresson's art, where everyhing is carefully controlled in advance, the spectator is made aware of his or her responsibility to recreate and discern the complexities of the series of images on the scrceen. Each image is clear in itself, but as a group they are confusing, and the contradictions that are engendered show the diverse aspects of a thing or a character: "Ambiguity in the cinema is a sign of value that does not lie." Chardère then discusses, and dismisses as having nothing to do with Bresson, Bazin's accusations against highly edited film (montage) as denying the spectator's freedom. He also dismisses the late nineteenth-century theories of the naturalists as being entirely different from the "complacency" expressed by Bresson, who describes things with pleasure, for themselves, not for purposes of social instruction. Chardère concludes by comparing Renoir's "psychological lyricism" to Bresson's classicism and declares that Flaherty opened the way for both.

71	Chardère, Bernard, 'Notes préliminaires', Positif 2, 28-31.  In the introduction to a series of articles (see entries 68-70), tragedy is defined as resting on ambiguities: distance coexisting with identification in the spectator, and serious themes played out as formal games.

72	Rops, Daniel, 'Blick in die Seele', Film Forum 5 (February), 3.  Positive review of Journal d'un curé de campagne, which Rops identifies as part of the avant-garde. It is Bresson's "masterpiece," following the disappointing Les Dames du Bois du Boulogne.

73

Tallenjay, Jean Louis, 'Un Cinéma enfin parlant', Cahiers du Cinéma 9 (February),30-36.  With the appearance of Journal d'un curé de campagne and Renoir's The River, Tallenjay sees the emergence of a new cinema that employs sound in other than the traditional, utilitarian way, which merely underlines and explains the action of the story.

1953

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

74

Agel, Henri, 'L'Homme écartelé', In: Prétre à l'écran, Paris: Editions Tèqui, 59-70.  Journal d'un curé de campagne is discussed in terms of its presentation of the priest. It is judged superior to the usual screen interpretation, but lacking because of the morbid tone. The priest may be an "existentialist," but unfortunately not a Christian one.

75

Ayfre, Amedée, 'Le Primat de la mise en scène', In: Dieu au cinéma: problèmes esthétiques du film religieux, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 142-59.  In a religious discussion of the first three films, Ayfre claims ultimate psychological depth for Bresson's presentation of Christian themes and characters: "The dissection is so fine and the recomposition so rigorous that it nearly -- but here there is still an abyss -- recreates the initial totality of the event." Always the event remains elusive; God's presence is missed, and we feel only His absence which is the "sign of and the reason for human solitude." It is this solitude, and not an idea of idyllic union, that is Bresson's true subject; it is the gap between despair and hope ("at once infinite and imperceptible") that he describes, but has been unable or unwilling to cross.

76

Doniol-Valcroze, Jacques, 'De l'avant-garde', In: Sept ans de cinéma français. By Henri Agel et al., Paris: Editions du Cerf, 14-16.  In a general discussion of the French avant-garde, Doniol-Valcroze discusses Bresson's first thrce films, emphasizing their reliance on paradox. He describes Bresson as an original without equivalent and compares his success to that of Chaplin.

77	Ford, Charles, Le Cinéma au service de la foi, Paris: Libraire Plon, 139-43  Routine discussion of Les Anges du péché and Journal d'un curé de campagne.

78

Lambert, Gavin, 'Notes on Robert Bresson', Sight and Sound 23, no. 1 (July-September), 35-39.  Overview of Bresson's first three films, which express the same 'physical and spiritual masochism to be found in so much modern Catholic art." The ideas in a previous review of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (see entry 57) are presented again; Les Anges du péché is a film of finely articulated character portraits played out in settings that are "oriental in precision and remoteness"; and Journal d'un curé de campagne is "more complex and more poetic" than the Bernanos novel. "The method goes beyond the analytical and the camera is admitted to the confines of the soul." Also includes biographical and production information.

*79	Walterman, Leo and Schütz, Walter J., 'Filmanalyse: Tagebuch eines Landpfarrers', In: Kino, Kunst und Kolportage, Edited by Leo Waltermann, Säckingen: Hermann Stratz, 153-66.  Cited in entry 687.

1954

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

80

Agel, Henri, 'L'Ascèse liturgique', In: Le Cinéma et le sacre, Paris: Editions du Cerf, 29-42  In a discussion of Bresson's first three films, Agel compares him to Racine by discussing their classical style: the careful composition, the sparseness of the images, and the lack of concessions to dramatic continuity.

81	Alpert, Hollis, 'SR Goes to the Movies: Classics from France and England', Saturday Review (27 March), 25.  Positive review of Journal d'un curé de campagne: "Movie making on the highest level."

82

Amengual, Bathelmy, 'Bresson et Dreyer', Image et Son 69 (February), 18  Describes Dreyer's Day of Wrath and Bresson's Les Anges du péché and Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne as marble sculpture: cold, hard, and perfect. But Dreyer's La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc and Journal d'un curé de campagne are bodies full of life, as in classical paintings. This result is achieved in two very different ways: Dreyer puts reality in parentheses with his stylized décor and close-ups, while Bresson goes deeper into physical reality with the painstaking detail of his shots.

83	[Anon.], 'The New Pictures: Diary of a Country Priest', Time (10 May), 108  "The main trouble of the picture is its failure to transmute the superb language of the book into equivalent images"

84

Crowther, Bosley, 'On Editing Imports: French Film Man Vexed at a Usual Practice', New York Times (2 May): Sect. 2, p. 1.  Crowther prints here the letter that Bresson had sent him on discovering that half an hour had been cut by the New York distributor from Journal d'un curé de carnpagne. Bresson defends every detail as indispensable and suggests that the omission explains why Crowther did not understand the film (see entry 85). Crowther makes fun of foreigners who always think their work is butchered by "crassly commercial Americans" and dismisses Bresson's attitude as "obvious pretension."

85	Crowther, Bosley, 'Diary of a Country Priest', NewYork Times (6 April), 35.  Though "the cinema technique is brilliant," Crowther "could not catch the pattern of the poor young priest's misery nor penetrate the veil of mysticism that enshrouds the whole film."

86	Doniol-Valcroze, Jacques, 'Entretien avec Luis Buñuel', Cahiers du Cinéma 36 (June), 12-13  Comment by Buñuel on the sado-masochistic elements of Les Anges du péché , which he thinks indicate other than struggle or violence, and which he finds attractive, but strange.

87	Hartung, Philip T., 'The Screen: Grace Is Everywhere', Commonweal (23 April), 69-70.  Positive review of Journal d'un curé de carnpagne: "An ennobling experience" that is "frequently quite exciting."

88

La Croix, Jean, 'La Philosophie: vie intérieur et vie spirituelle', Le Monde (15 May), 9.  After a lengthy introduction on the notion of solitude in the history of philosophy, La Croix has high praise for the treatment of it in Journal d'un curé de carnpagne. By eliminating the psychological and social elements of the novel, Bresson has succeeded in making a film "not of introspection, but of reflection."

89

Laurent, Frédéric, 'Maria Casarès ou de l'élégance de l'âme', Image et Son 72 (May), l-6.  Comments on each of Casarès's films, including Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne which is deemed the height of her achievement on the screen. Casarès herself claims that Bresson originally wanted her to play in Les Anges du péché and complains that he "gently killed" the entire cast and crew of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne.

90

McCarten, John, 'The Current Cinema: Up From Misery', New Yorker 30 (17 April), 113.  Review of Journal d'un curé de carnpagne. Bresson "is not too successful in explaining . . . [the priest's] motivations, however, the camera work is amazingly perceptive" and "used to great effect in scrutinizing the characters."

91	Marion, Denis, 'Petit Journal intime de cinéma', Cahiers du Cinéma 36 (June), 45.  Short notice of the opposing contemporary reviews of Journal d'un curé de campagne.

92

Sadoul, Georges, 'Robert Bresson', In: Histoire générale du cinema. Vol. 6., Paris: Editions Denbel, 50-51.  Sadoul is surprised at Bresson's attempt to find a new classicism in the midst of the war, but asserts that the high quality of Les Anges du péché is nonetheless a great contribution to French cinema. He quotes Giraudoux on the theme of the film: "Under the uniforms of the nuns and their monastic rules, the same social classes and conflicts exist." Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé is similarly described as testimony of the Nazi atrocities, the occupation, and the heroism of the French resistance.

93	Truffaut, François, 'Une Certain Tendance du cinéma français', Cahiers du Cinéma 31 (January), 15-28.  Translated: entries 360, 641. See entry 360 for annotation.

94

Truffaut, François, 'Il y a dix ans de Robert Bresson', Arts (22 September) , 3.  Article on the successful revival of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne. Truffaut describes it as an exercise in style, comments particularly on Cocteau's contribution, and feels that the film is not as fully developed as Bresson's later work. Reprinted: entry 626. Translated into English: entry 700.

95	Walsh, Moira, 'Films', America 91, no. 3 (17 April), 80.  Positive review of Journal d'un curé de campagne. "A perfectly extraordinary screen exposition of that apparently most uncinematic of qualities: sanctity."

1955

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

96

[Anon.], 'Les Infortunes de la 1iberté: le 'Journal d'un curé de campagne' à l'américain', Positif 13 (March-April), 82.  Series of case histories on the mutilation of films, including the American print of Journal d'un curé de campagne, which played in New York to critics who described the film as incoherent. Relates Bosley Crowther's flippant reply to Bresson's indignant letter (see entry 84) and Thomas Brandon's and Lillian Gerard's contention (representing the distributor) that foreign films must be tailored for American audiences, who won't accept them unless they've been reedited.

*97	Borde, Raymond, 'Lettre ouverte à Robert Bresson', Revue de Belles Lettres de Genève, Numéro spécial cinéma (February).  Cited and reprinted in entry 312.

98

Green, Julien, 'En travaillant avec Robert Bresson', Cahiers du Cinéma 50 (August-September), 18-23.  Green, a novelist and translator, claims that during the summer of 1947 he worked for Bresson on a script for an eventually abandoned project on the life of Ignace de Loyola; this article is comprised of excerpts from his diary during that period. Also included are three sketches by Pierre Charbonnier of the proposed sets and costumes.

1956

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

99	Anderson, Lindsay, 'Review of 'Dieu et cinéma'', Sight and Sound 23, no. 3 (January-March), 163.  Short article admiring Ayfre's aesthetic approach to religion and cinema and the use of Bresson's work to illustrate it.

*100	[Anon.], 'Review of 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé'', Cinéma 14, 110.  Cited in Cinéma Index, 1954-1971.

101	Arbois, Janick, 'La Présence de la mort', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 358 (25 November), 39-40.  Review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé that sees the film as a meditation on death.

102

Arlaud, R. M., 'Un Homme libre', Combat (14 November), 2.  Short review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Emphasizes Bresson's uncompromising quest for truth through his refusal to accept simply the "lifelike" situations that are so easily supplied in film by the realism of the photographic image and the use of traditional narrative conventions.

103	Baroncelli, Jean de, 'Le Cinéma: 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé' ou 'Le Vent souffle ou ii vent" Le Monde (15 November), 12.  Review: "Less a filmed story of escape than a poem to the glory of man."

104

Bazin, André, 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé', France Observateur 340 (15 November), 22-23.  Bazin first outlines Bresson's technique: avoidance of dramatic effects and psychological connections, and indifference to the usual rendering of space and time. In particular, he points to the last scene as the height of this scorn for time and place, claiming that "it is impossible to accurately reconstruct." But the heart of Bazin's idea of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé is based on what he describes as the accumulation in the film of unjustifiable, arbitrary details. He refers to the filmmaker's process of choice as Bresson's "groping," and suggests that the film itself is a metaphor for Bresson's idea of escape as a combination of chance and reasonable calculation.

*105	Leterrier, François, 'En prison avec Robert Bresson', L'Express (21 September)  Cited in entry 557.

106

Leterrier, François, 'Philosophe de métier, vedette de fortune', La N.E.F., n.s., no. 1 (December), 47-49.  Leterrier, a philosophy student who played Fontaine in Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, relates some of his ex periences working with the authoritarian Bresson. He at tempts to explain Bressom's methods by suggesting that, after all, only Bresson has the finished film in mind. Leterrier learned more about directing than acting during the shooting and found Bresson's example contagious. It made him "want to find some victims and make them [his own] . . . for 90 minutes on the screen."

107	Leterrier, François, 'Robert Bresson l'insaissable', Cahiers du Cinéma 66 (December), 34-36.  Leterrier repeats some of his experiences (see entry 106) and speaks of Bresson's motives as still a "mystery" to him. He also comments on Bresson's fascination with magic and his use of it in the film.

108

Ludmann, René, 'Grace et déréliction: 'Journal d'un curé de campagne'', In: Cinéma foi et morale, Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 130-36.  A generally positive and pointedly religious analysis of the film's characters. Ludmann argues that though the spiritual element is not compromised by melodrama or grandiloquence, the film is excessively stylized and therefore lacking in warmth and tenderness.

109	Mauriac, Claude, 'Le Nouveau Bresson', Le Figaro Littéraire 552 (17 November), 14.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé comparing the original story by Devigny with the film.

110

Monod, Roland, 'En travaillant avec Robert Bresson', Cahiers du Cinéma 64 (November), 16-20.  Drama critic and journalist Monod, who played the part of the reverend in Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, here writes of working with Bresson on that film. The account is primarily of Bresson's way of dealing with people on the set: his constant use of paradox ("which makes him appear at once engaging and remote") and simple, but oft-repeated instruction. "Out of this account [of the escape] . . . Bresson has made a tribute to the human quality which he admires most and knows best because he has it himself: stubbornness." Partially translated into English: entry 142.

111

Rohmer, Eric, 'Les Miracles des objets' Cahiers du Cinéma 65 (December), 42-45.  High praise for Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: "The cinema has opened up in ways that Bresson alone showed were possible. He is a precursor, whose work rivals all else and who has given us the aptitude to appreciate all else."

112	Roy, Jules, 'J'ai vu Robert Bresson tourner au fort Montluc', Le Figaro Littéraire 534 (14 July), 7.  Full-page account of Bresson's directing of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Includes many anecdotes.

113	Tallenjay, Jean-Louis, 'La Force d'âme', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 358 (25 November), 4-5, 39.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: A "revolutionary" film.

*114	Trémois, Claude-Marie, 'Enfin, le nouveau film de Robert Bresson', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 334 (10 June).  Cited in entry 121.

115

Trémois, Claude-Marie, 'Un Heros qui n'est ni de chair ni de sang', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 358 (25 November), 40.  Review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Trémois admires the film, but feels that Fontaine, to the detriment of it, remains an abstraction. He argues that Bresson works in the hope that the person he has chosen as the main character will eventually, miraculously, be revealed. In this case, however, his painstaking study reveals only a void.

116

Truffaut, François, 'Bresson tourne 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé'', Arts 574 (25 June), 5.  In a long introduction to an interview with Bresson that took place at Montluc, Truffaut discusses the director's personality, his theories (which he claims are unlikely to spawn a school since they are so particular) and his working habits. The interview itself was drastically cut because Truffaut had read most of it "word for word" in an interview published elsewhere.

117

Truffaut, François, 'Le Plus Beau Film de Bresson', Arts 593 (14-20 November), 3.  A rhapsodic review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, which is described as the most decisive film of the last ten years; others are "infantile" by comparison. Truffaut revokes his previous statement that Bresson's films are too rigid and ascetic to encourage imitators (see entry 116) and claims that this film will have great influence. Reprinted: entry 626. Translated into English: entry 700.

118	Truffaut, François, 'La Photo du mois', Cahiers du Cinéma 60 (June), 33.  Photograph and notice of work begun on Bresson's new film Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé.

119

Yvoire, Jean d', 'Est-ce bien un resurrection?', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 358 (25 November), 40.  In a review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, Yvoire is critical of the film's narrow "Nietzchean" viewpoint. It is a film without a context, and Bresson and his characters exist in a "spiritual prison."

1957

BOOK

120

Briot, René, Robert Bresson, Paris: Editions du Cerf, 117 pp.  A chapter on each of the films through Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, an appendix with a list of sequences from each, and two chapters on Bresson's new conception of adaptation. Briot stresses Bresson's method of composing and ordering the images in a totally intellectual way, and effectively illustrates several of his technical and aesthetic inventions, such as the use of sound to spatially expand a scene. With a persistent high-art approach, he portrays Bresson as an artist who dominates his characters and disciplines himself, but "submits totally to the laws of composition and taste." Translated into Spanish: entry 158.

SHORTER WRITINGS

121	Agel, Henri, 'Présentation de Robert Bresson', Études (May), 263-69.  From Agel's usual strong Christian viewpoint, a study of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé as an illustration of Bresson's aesthetic of the implicit. Also delineates the musical structure of the film.

122

Agel, Henri, Robert Bresson, Brussels: Club du Livre de Cinéma, 14 pp.  A study of Bresson's work through Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé from a primarily religious, but also formal point of view. Agel describes Bresson's work as "audiovisual algebra" and a "quest" to make concrete the mystery of faith. The criticism is best when illuminating the religious symbolism and biblical references.

123

Agel, Henri, 'Robert Bresson ou la transparence', Pensée Française 2 (January), 63-64.  General wrap-up of Bresson's work on the occasion of the opening of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: It is the "most formal and accomplished work of the French cinema," and Bresson is "the most mysterious" of French directors.

124	Alpert , Hollis, 'SR Goes to the Movies: French Without Sex', Saturday Review (24 August), 25.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: "The fact that the story is true is incidental; it would have been true regardless."

*125	[Anon.], 'Le Cinéma dans l'ornière', L'Express 310 (19 May).  Cited in entry 243.

*126	[Anon.], [Interview with Bresson], Unifrance 45 (December), 3.  Cited in Mel Schuster, Motion Picture Directors: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973), p. 57.

*127	[Anon.], [Review of 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé'], Écran de France 167 (January).  Cited in entry 120.

128

Arbois, Janick, 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé', Téléciné 64 (March), 10 pp. [Fiche filmographique, no. 295.]  In an elaboration of a previous article (see entry 101), Arbois argues that Fontaine's emotional make-up is so hidden and his character so inaccessible that he is "death personified." By so creating Fontaine, Bresson has taken his audience to the heart of the mystery of death--and life.

129	Ayfre, Amedée, 'L'Universe de Robert Bresson', Téléciné 70-71 (November-December), 1-8.  Reprinted: entry 286. Translated into Italian: entry 219; into English: entry 429. See entry 429 for annotation.

130	Bazin, André, 'Cannes 1957', Cahiers du Cinéma 72 (June), 27-28.  Notice of the appearance of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé at the Cannes Festival. Bazin points to the elliptical murder of the sentinel as a weak point in the film.

131	Butcher, Naryvonne, 'Film Festival at Cannes', America 97, no. 11 (15 June), 325.  Review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. "It inspires no hatred, evokes no ideology."

132	Butler, Rupert, 'A Man Escaped', Films and Filming 3, no. 10 (July), 23-24.  "Bresson ruthlessly excludes all irrelevancies" to make an "outstanding film on the theme of liberation."

*133	Damas d'Aydie, G., 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé', Revue International du Cinéma 28. [Fiche culturelle vox no. 5.]  Cited in entry 299.

134	Godard, Jean-Luc, '60 metteurs en scène français', Cahiers du Cinéma 71 (May), 50.  Godard includes Bresson in an article on current French directors: "He is to French cinema as Dostoevsky is to the Russian novel and Mozart to German music."

135	Green, Harris, 'Movies: A Prisoner's Tale', Reporter 17, no. 9 (28 November), 41.  Review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: "Scrupulously objective," though the manner is so objective that "one wonders if a director is functioning at all."

136	Hartung, Philip T., 'The Screen: Crusoe in Chaius', Commonweal (6 September), 569.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, characterizing it as a thriller.

137	Hatch, Robert, 'Films', Nation (12 0ctober), 25.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé: A "poetic tour de force."

138

Kyrou, Ado, 'Le Cinéma condamné à mort', Positif 20 (January), 40-41.  A diatribe on Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Kyro first states that Bresson makes so few films because he has only contempt for the cinema. Condamné is a "beautiful subject" that Bresson has destroyed by eliminating all elements that might suggest passion; there are no characters, ideas, truth, time, or space in the film. However, Bresson might have a "brilliant career as a director in radio."

139

Lambert, Gavin, 'Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé', Sight and Sound 27, no. 1 (Summer), 32-33, 53.  Lambert considers the film as having two levels: the slow, painstaking, physical effort of the escape, and the inner dedication that provides tension and "impregnates the action with faith." Reprinted: entry 696.

140	Leprophon, Pierre, 'Robert Bresson', In: Présences contemporaines du cinéma, Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Debresse, 358-72.  Thorough, conventional treatment of Bresson's career through Journal d'un curé de campagne and the critical attitudes toward it. Also includes many production details.

141

Mauriac, Claude, 'Robert Bresson', In: Petite Littérature du cinéma, Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 65-73.  Review of Bresson's career through Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Mauriac describes the films as created by one man "remembering . . . with the intervention of an artist materializing for us the impalpable."

142	Monod, Roland, 'Working with Robert Bresson', Sight and Sound 27, no. 1 (Summer), 30-32.  Slightly abridged and translated version of entry 110.

143

'Propos de Robert Bresson', Cahiers du Cinéma 75 (October), 3-9.  Transcript of a group interview at Cannes in 1957 with questions from André Bazin, Georges Sadoul, François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Tallenjay, and others. Replies from Bresson on the documentary aspect of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, on the characters in that film, on nonprofessional actors, and Dryers La Passion de Jeanne d 'Arc.

144	Ranchal, Marcel, 'Une Leçon de morale', Positif 20 (January), 39-41.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé focusing on the morality and courage of Fontaine's actions.

145	Reed, Muriel, 'Robert Bresson, le jansénist du cinéma', Réalities 143 (December), 80-87.  General article covering Bresson's films as well as his relationships with the people who work for him. Translated into English: entry 156.

146	Rotha, Paul, 'Bresson's True Story', Living Cinema 1, no. 3, 132-33.  Favorable review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé, though Rotha is critical of the use of the narrative voiceover, a "literary, unfilmic device."

147	Sarris, Andrew, 'A Man Escaped', Film Culture 3, no. 4 (November), 6, 16.  Sarris describes the film well and admires Bresson's style, but finds it limiting and too intellectual.

148

Sémolué, Jean, 'Les Personnages de Robert Bresson', Cahiers du Cinéma 75 (October), 10-15.  Analysis of the first four films, mostly of the relationships and similarities of the main characters. Sémolué argues that each film contains a "decisive moment" when the character "understands the reason for wanting what he does and thereafter identifies himself more and more with his passion."

149	'Six personnages en quête d'auteurs; débat sur le cinéma français', Cahiers du Cinéma 71 (May), 16-29.   Bresson's work is a frequent example in this debate on the contemporary cinema among the editors of Cahiers du Cinéma.

1958

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

*150	Anon., 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Radio-CinémaTélévision 426 (16 March).  Cited in entry 557. Fiche filmographique.

*151	Baxter, B., 'Robert Bresson', Film 17 (September-October), 9.  Cited in Mel Schuster, Motion Picture Direcors: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press 1973), p. 57.

152

Cardinal, Pierre, 'Maria Casarès parle de Robert Bresson', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 426 (16 March), 3, 46.  Casarès, who played Hélène in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, speaks of her association with Bresson on that film. He tyrannized everyone on the set, however "sweetly," and treated her like a robot. Casarès consequently came very close to hating him, though she appreciates her performance and the film.

*153	Esnault, Philippe, 'Robert Bresson par René Briot', Cinéma 31 (November).  Cited in entry 557: "Review of the book which amounts to a study."

154

Estève, Michel, 'Une Réussite exceptionelle: le 'Journal d'un curé de campagne', Revue des Lettres Modernes, 36-38 (Summer), 225-31.  Estève argues the "profound fidelity" of the film to the structures, themes, and text of Bernanos's novel. To this end, he discusses the divergent temperaments of both authors, Bresson's careful reading of the novel, and his preparation and choice of scenes, acting, and sound effects, all of which create a spiritual center for the film as secure as that of the novel.

155	Jeanne, René and Ford, Charles, Histoire encyclopédique du cinéma. Vol. 4, Le Cinéma parlant, Paris: S.E.D.E., 310-14.  Biographical information and a detailed discussion of Giraudoux's participation on Les Anges du péché, a film the authors see as a "masterpiece" next to the "frigid follow-up."

156	Reed, Muriel, 'Robert Bresson: Lens on the Soul', Réalités (In English), 87 (February), 37-41.  Translation of entry 145.

157

Sémolué, Jean, 'Quelques réflexions sur Dreyer et sur Bresson', Éducation et Cinéma, 15-16 (October-November), 361-65.  Good comparative study of the work of Bresson and Dreyer. Sémolué argues that Bresson surpasses Dreyer, who was never liberated from the strictures of his religious theme, by committing himself to formal rigor above all else.

1959

BOOKS

158	Briot, René, Robert Bresson [Translated by D. C. C. de Gambra], Madrid: Ediciones Rialp, 124 pp.  Spanish translation of entry 121, with different plates.

159

Sémolué, Jean, Robert Bresson, Classiques du cinéma, no. 7, Paris: Éditions Universitaires, 190 pp.  Careful original analyses of each of the first four films, including a detailed comparison of the descriptions in the novel, Journal d'un curé de campagne, with the characters in the film. Sémolué approaches Bresson from a traditional aesthetic viewpoint, and refers throughout his study to Paul Valéry as a theoretical predecessor. Like Valéry, Bresson is an artist who creates works that demand attention and who consequently "struggles with the deterioration of attention" in the spectator. He is also an artist committed to the notion of a piece as a construction of formal relationships. Within these principles, Bresson searches for cinema-specific means that will povide "aesthetic autonomy" for the cinema; his method unites improvisation with initial constraints; and he patiently and always strives for unity and formal perfection. In an illuminating chapter on Bresson's relationship to his main characters, Sémolué argues that their unique quality is not particular. Rather, they have in common with Bresson the tenacity of an "elite soul," which is a response to as well as an imitation of Bresson's own.

SHORTER WRITINGS

160

Agel, Henri, 'Robert Bresson', In Les Grands Cinéastes, Paris: Editions Universitaires, 221-25.  Review of the first four films stressing Bresson's ideas on art and contemporary critical attitudes toward his work. In conclusion, Agel compares Bresson's characters to those of Rossellini, pointing out that the latter are always bound to a specific time and place in a way that Bresson's never are.

*161	sine auctore, 'Robert Bresson: le 'Pickpocket' sera un film de mains, d'objets et de regards', Arts (17 June).  Cited in entry 196.

162	Anon., 'Robert Bresson, notre Penelope', Cinéma 59, no. 41 (December), 71-73.  The writer does not like Bresson's films, but reports from the set of Pickpocket that "for each shot, Bresson has a rendezvous with grace."

163	Anon., 'Les Rythmes d'un film doivent être des battements de coeur', L'Express 445 (23 December), 38-39.  Interview with Bresson on the making of Pickpocket. Also includes statements on cinemascope, realism, and his treatment of actors.

*164	Anon., 'Six films, six faces', Unifrance 50 (July-September), 25.  Cited in Mel Schuster, Motion Picture Directors: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973), p. 57.

165	Baroncelli, Jean de, 'Le Cinéma: Pickpocket', Le Monde (20-21 December), 13.  Review: the film is without characters or time or place, but "great" because of its integrity.

166	Bazin, André, ''Le Journal d'un curé de campagne' et la stylistique de Robert Bresson', In Qu'est-ce que le cinéma? Vol. 2, Le Cinéma et les autres arts, Paris: Editions du Cerf, 33-54.  See entry 368 for annotation. Reprint of entry 44.

167	Charensol, Georges, 'Le Chef d'oeuvre de Robert Bresson', Les Nouvelles Littéraires (24 December), 10.  Positive review of Pickpocket, a "singular" film. Bresson is deemed an inspiration because no one else is capable of using the medium in an equally rigorous way.

*168	Collet, Jean, 'Vers le cinéma abstrait', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 497 (27 December), 52.  Cited in entry 557.

169

Cortade, René, ''Pickpocket' ou le roman russe à la glacière', Arts 754 (23 December), 7.  Recognizes Bresson's preeminence as an artist, but feels that he has gone astray with a bad idea and a character who does not respond to his searching camera. Cortade suggests that Bresson adapt something with which he has stronger affinities, like Camus's L'Etranger, rather than caricature Dostoevsky.

170	Ford, Charles, 'Robert Bresson', Films in Review 10, no. 2 (February), 65-67, 79.  Gossip and firsthand information on Bresson's career before Pickpocket, including the early days before Les Anges du péché.

171	Guyonnet, René, ''Pickpocket': Robert Bresson est allé encore plus loin', L'Express 444 (17 December), 5.  Positive review that emphasizes the minimalism and formal organization of the film.

172

Malle, Louis, 'Avec 'Pickpocket' Bresson a trouvé', Arts 755 (30 December), l, 6.  Malle defends Bresson and Pickpocket against the critics, insisting that the filmmaker be allowed the same freedom to interpret reality as a painter, and that he not be judged by any "failure" to rely on theatrical conventions.

173

Marcabru, Pierre, 'Pickpocket', Combat (17 December), 2.  Short article on the egotism and narcissism of Bresson's films in general and of Pickpocket in particular. The film is a "dialogue between a brain and two hands" and the consequent struggle of Michel to affirm himself through the former and not the latter.

174	Nauriac, Claude, 'A propos de 'Pickpocket'', Le Figaro Littéraire 714 (26 December), 16.  Positive review, though Mauriac is critical of the sentimental ending.

175

Pelegri, Jean, 'Robert Bresson ou la fascination', Les Lettres Françaises 60 (31 December-6 January 1960), 1, 4.  Pelegri, a critic, played the part of the inspector in Pickpocketand here comments on the values and ends of Bresson's cinema. He suggests that the simplicity of the images is similar in intention to a request for concentration from a hypnotist and concludes that all the films turn on a "double fascination": the fascination of the main character with a project and Bresson's (and the spectator's) fascination with the process involved.

176	Rochereau, Jean, 'Le Nouveau Film de Bresson est un oeuvre ou s'offronteront l'âme et la main', La Croix (24 September), 6.  Background information on Pickpocket mostly about the actors.

177	Rochereau, Jean, 'Pickpocket', La Croix (30 December).  Rochereau pronounces the film a failure because Michel has not the capacity for revelation so abruptly assumed at the end, and because the realistic attention to detail also subverts this expected change.

178	Roud, Richard, 'The Early Work of Robert Bresson', Film Culture 20, 44-52.  Mostly a reworking of the critical literature on the first three films. Roud states that the films are abstractions "counterpointing reality," which succeed in giving their religious theme "dramatic life."

179

Sadoul, Georges, 'Délits et châtiment', Les Lettres Françaises 804 (24 December), 7.  Detailed review of Pickpocket, a "free adaptation" of Crime and Punishment. The similarities of the two works are outlined: in the hero, the detective, the mother, the crime, the philosophy, and the treatment of the relationship between religion and society.

180*	Salachas, Gilbert, 'Itinéraire secret dans un monde désincarné', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 519 (27 December).  Cited in entry 557.

*181	Sengissen, Paul, 'Un Film interne et révélateur', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 519 (27 December), 53.  Cited in entry 645.

*182	Trémois, Claude-Marie , 'Que reste-t-il des formes parfaites mais sans substance', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 519 (27 December), 53.  Cited in entry 645.

183	Trémois, Claude-Marie , 'Robert Bresson tourne le film de l'incertitude', Radio-Cinéma-Télévision no. 497 (26 July), 2-3.  Background on the making of Pickpocket and a discussion of Bresson's ideas concerning the film.

*184	Yvoir, Jean d', 'La Prison de Bresson a-t-elle une issue?' Radio-Cinéma-Télévision 519 (27 December), 53.  Cited in entry 645.

1960

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

185

Agel, Henri and Ayfre, Amedée, ''Pickpocket': débat sur le film de Robert Bresson', Recherches et Débats 32 (September), 98-105.  Neither a debate nor on Pickpocket but rather two short essays on Bresson's work as a whole. Agel argues that Bresson is an artist particularly sensitive to the problem of evil ("interior demons") and also "one of the three or four people in the history of the cinema who has thought enough of his cinematographic style to accord it the importance of writing." He describes this style as having three characteristics: a classic understatement that makes it an "art of suggestion," an avoidence of the dramatic and anecdotal, and a dialectical basis in the editing. Ayfre, more simply, discusses the dual presence of liberty and grace in each of the films.

*186	Anon., 'French Film: A Discussion', Film 26 (November-December) ,10.  Cited in Mel Schuster, Motion Picture Directors: A Bibliography (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973), p. 57.

187

Bastaire, Jean, 'Petite Introduction à Robert Bresson', Esprit (March), 565-77.  Traces Bresson's career through Pickpocket and its contribution to the elaboration of a film language. Bastaire discusses the antitheatrical nature of Bresson's aesthetic and the relationship of the commentaries and dialogue to it. He slights Les Anges du péché and Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne as revealing little of Bresson's mature style, but discusses them both at length in the second half of the article on Bresson's philosophy and "universe of signs."

188	Billard, Pierre , 'Pickpocket', Cinéma 43 (February), 115-116.  A negative review: "From Eisenstein to Bresson, or the death of an art."

*189	Billard, Pierre, 'Le Regard calme de Bresson', L'Express (3-29 May).  Cited in entry 557.

*190	Carta, Jean, 'Manifeste pour un anti-cinéma', Témoignage Chrétien (15 January).  Cited in entry 645.

191

Collet, Jean, 'Pickpocket ', Téléciné 88 (March-April), 18 pp. [Fiche filmographique, no. 363.]  Detailed résumé and dialogue extracts, as well as sections on the visual structure, the rhythm of the découpage, and the characters. Collet emphasizes Bresson's exceptional rigor and unity as applied to the theme of communication, and reveals many insights into the specific visual compositions of Pickpocket which he illuminates with comparisons to other film stylists and other arts.

192

Collet, Jean , 'Rencontre avec Robert Bresson', Téléciné 89 (May-June), 1-3.  Collet has interviewed Bresson and reports here on his ideas and his manner. One of the conditions of the interview was that Bresson see the article before publication. And so, printed here, next to the article, is a page from the original manuscript, extensively rewritten and corrected by Bresson.

193	Davies, Brian, 'Diary of a Country Priest', Film Journal 16 (August),79-82.  Review primarily concerned with the differences in character and theme between the film and the novel.

194	Delahaye, Michel, 'Pickpocket', Cinéma 60, no. 43 (February), 116-17.  Positive review of this film, in which the object is "systematically valorized" and man "systematically scorned"; a fascinating film about theft committed purely for the sake of theft, to deny and conquer the world of others.

195	Durgnat, Raymond, 'Pickpocket', Films and Filming 7, no. 1 (October), 25.  Durgnat finds Pickpocket to be Bresson's least imposing film and interprets it as a love story. He argues that Michel's obsession is a self-destructive one that reflects his refusal to admit his need for Jeanne.

196	Estève, Michel, 'Permanence de Robert Bresson', Études Cinématographiques 3-4 (2d quarter), 225-231.  Pickpocket reviewed as a character study, marked by a dialectic between pride and grace. Michel steals in order to elevate himself above all others, closer to the absolute.

197	Gilson, René, 'Pickpocket', Cinéma 60, no. 43 (Feburary), 117-118.  Thoughts on the film, without much focus. It "troubles and touches" Gilson, but he does not know precisely why and compares Bresson's searching to the concerns of unspecified "young novelists."

198	Godard, Jean-Luc and Doniol-Valcroze, Jacques, 'Entretien avec Robert Bresson', Cahiers du Cinéma 104 (February), 3-9.  Bresson talks about Pickpocket, the significance of hands, right choices and necessary choices, commentary as a rhythmic element, and his other projects.

199	Greene, Marjorie, 'Robert Bresson', Film Quarterly 13, no. 3 (Spring), 4-10.  Description of Bresson's work habits and methods during all phases of production, including a section on his directing of actors.

200	Martin, Marcel, 'Pickpocket', Cinéma 60, no. 43 (February), 114-15.  Positive review, though critical of the "dramatic pirouette" that ends the film.

201	Rhode, Eric, 'Pickpocket', Sight and Sound 29, no. 4 (Autumn), 193-94.  Review that suggests there is a sexual-economic core in the film, but is mostly concerned with Bressons manipulative approach to the characters.

202	Richard Roud, 'French Outside With the Inside Look', Films and Filming 6, no. 7 (April), 9-10.  Survey of career through Pickpocket. Roud argues that tragedy is not only implicit in the plots, but also in the form and tone.

203	Seguin, Louis, ''Pickpocket': le phono', Positif 33 (April), 40-41.  In a very negative review, Seguin discusses Bresson's ideas as "simplistic." Only Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne deserves Bresson's exalted reputation as a nurturer of "debates on high-altitude metaphysics."

204	Sémolué, Jean, 'Les Limites de la liberté', Études Cinématographiques 3-4 (2d quarter), 230-40.  Sémolué finds Pickpocket "mechanical" in comparison to Bresson's other films, and Michel the most "aggressive, blunt, and impatient" of characters. Includes many psychological insights into the work.

205	Tailleur, Roger, 'Pickpocket: la phearme', Positif 33 (April), 41-44.  Negative review: "Dostoevsky written by an abusive disciple of Hemingway . . . . A perfect exercise in style if one accepts a definition of style as the act of jumping over intermediate ideas, points, and words."

*206	Vas, Robert, ''Pickpocket." Monthly Film Bulletin (October).  Cited in entry 283.

207

Wagner, Jean, 'L'Homme derrière l'objet', Cahiers du Cinéma 104 (February), 49-50.  Wagner argues an increased objectification and depersonalization of Bresson's characters, which culminates in Pickpocket: Bresson's style is "arid and secret"; it is "difficult to be impervious to its beauty, but also difficult to get to its bottom."

208	Walter, Anne, 'L'Angoisse de la certitude', Cahiers du Cinéma 104 (February), 47-48.  Review of Pickpocket: "Not only a brilliant exercise in style," but the most "mysterious" of Bresson's films.

209

Wuilleumier, Marie-Claire, 'Un Langage cinématographique', Esprit, n.s., no. 6 (June), 960-67.  Wuilleumier distinguishes a new kind of language in the films of Resnais, Tati, Bresson, and others -- different from the traditional language, which is based on dramatic continuity. From this introductory section, she focuses on Resnais and Bresson and their inclination to include what happens between events, to mix up time and space, and to use the word (voice-over) as an "instrument of the search." She separates the two directors by saying that in Bresson, the word and image remain submissive to the interior signification of the character, while in Resnais, the word and image are anarchic, a sign of interior chaos.

1961

BOOKS -- NONE

SHORTER WRITINGS

210	Audinet, Pierre, ''Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc' et se tourne à huis clos', Les Nouvelles Littéraires (5 October), 9.  Report of Bresson working and an interview on the set of Procès de Jeanne d'Arc.

211

Estève, Michel, ''Nazarin' et le 'Journal d'un cur é de campagne'', Études Cinématographiques 10-11 (3d quarter), 217-234.  Though philosophical opposites, these two films have much in common, as adaptations of novels and as documents of a spiritual journey that puts into question the place of Christ in the modern world.

212

Ripkens, Martin, 'Ein zum Tode Verurteilter ist entflohen', Filmkritik 10 (October), 499-502.  Positive review of Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé. Ripkins admires the documentary detail and editing, and finds the themes to be the same as Bresson's other films: the illustration of a "power of consciousness, through which one person is able to influence and change others.

1962

BOOKS

213

Estève, Michel, Robert Bresson, Cinéma d'aujour d'hui, no. 8., Paris: Seghers, 221 pp.  Chapters on adaptation, space and time, the main characters, acting, Bresson's aesthetic, and the particularity of his worldview. Estève takes a well-researched and eclectic viewpoint, which relies on a strong literary background. He groups the films chronologically according to the extent to which they move away from what he sees as Bresson's initially literary sensibility. In this way, Pickpocket becomes a high point, revealing an aesthetic where the image gains precedence over the word. The films as a whole are characterized by space manipulated to explore the dialectic of the abstract and the concrete, a sophisticated literary sense that produces subtle and respectful adaptations, and an entirely subjective approach to time.   Estève sees the characters as central to the aesthetic, marked by a stubbornness and willfulness that they put in service to a "violent and profound" passion. Their passion is for "true existence," and the films trace the path of liberation that leads to it, allowing this basic theme (prison/freedom) both a literal and a figurative presence.   Also includes extracts from the découpages of Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (the end), Journal d'un curé de campagne (Delbende's death, and the countess's funeral), Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé (Jost's appearance to the beginning of the escape), Pickpocket (the fair, and the Gare de Lyon sequence), and Procès de Jeanne d'Arc (the "sign" and St. Michel). A valuable section; only the extracts from Pickpocket are included in the second 1974 edition. Also a long section of excerpted criticism, filmography, and bibliography. See entry 557 for annotation of the second edition.

SHORTER WRITINGS

214	Anon., 'Le 'Procès de Jeanne d'Arc' (Cannes 62)', Cinéma 62, no. 67, 94.  Cited in Cinéma Index, 1954-1971.

215	Anon., 'Review of Cannes '62', Cinéma 62, no. 66, 12.  Cited in Cinéma Index 1954-1971

216	Anon., 'Robert Bresson Talks to Our Film Critic', Guardian (5 November), 5.  Cited in British Humanities Index, 1962. Interview.

217	Arkadin., 'Film Clips', Sight and Sound 32, no. 1 (Winter), 34.  Review of Procès de Jeanne d'Arc that is mostly an account of a meeting with Bresson in London; includes quotes from him on Godard, Malle, and his old films.

218

Astre, Georges-Albert, 'Entretien avec Robert Bresson et Jean Guitton', Études Cinématographiques, 18-19 (3d quarter), 85-97.  Guitton, a historian and authority on Jeanne d'Arc, speaks at length of her spirituality and similarity to Christ. Bresson then talks of his own fascination with Jeanne, her youth, her lack of prudence, her purity, her failure (martyrdom), and the analogy with Christ. Both deemphasize her as a symbol of nationalism.

219	Ayfre, Amedée, 'L'universe di Bresson', Cineforum 17 (July).  Translation of entry 129. See entry 429 for annotation.

220	Baroncelli, Jean de, 'Au festival de Cannes: Présentation du 'Procès de Jeanne d'Arc' de Robert Bresson', Le Monde (20-21 May), 19.  Baroncelli feels that Bresson has taken a serious risk with this film and considers it Bresson's "secret" that emotion comes from such simplicity and austerity.

221	Benayoun, Robert, 'De l'ange a l'éclipse: un triomphe du fond' Positif 47 (July), 68-69.  Short notice bemoaning the selection of Bresson's Procès de Jeanne d'Arc as the French entry at Cannes.

222	Butcher, Maryvonne, 'Bresson at Cannes', Blackfriars 28 (July-August), 338-339.  Favorable review of Procès de Jeanne d'Arc which Butcher suggests is superior to Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc.

223	Capdenac, M., 'J'ai voulu que Jeanne d'Arc soit un personnage d'aujourd'hui', Les Lettres Françaises 928 (24 May), 12.  Interview with Bresson; comments on his attitude towards psychology, his faith in the public, and Procès de Jeanne d'Arc.

224	Chevallier, Jacques, 'Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne', Image et Son 156 (November),21-28.  Cited in entry 557.

225	Collet, Jean, 'Pickpocket', Télérama 653 (12 July), 29-30.  Plot synopsis and criticism. Collet sees the film as a "dialectic of man and destiny," taking note in particular of the objectifying of parts of the body, which he interprets as an equivalent to the idea of man as an object of destiny.

226	Durand, Philippe, 'Le Drôle de chemin de Robert Bresson', Image et Son 156 (November), 3-7.  Durand has several novel approaches to Bresson's work: Michel and the curé as homosexuals, an occult interpretation of obsession with certain numbers, and Jeanne d'Arc as the "virile image of the trinity."

227	Durand, Philippe, 'Dossier', Image et Son 156 (November), 8-13.  A collection of quotations from Bresson and his critics arranged by subject: realism-abstraction, tragedy, Bresson at work, the theory and practice of acting, and so forth.

228	Durand, Philippe and Cauthier, Guy, 'Dossier et filmographie', Image et Son, 156 (November),14-19.  Chronologically ordered credits and critical quotations on the films through Procès de Jeanne d'Arc.

229

Estève, Michel (ed.), 'Jeanne d'Arc à l'écran', Études Cinématographiques 18-19 (3d quarter).  Special issue with articles on the several film versions of Jeanne d'Arc's life by Carl Dreyer, Gustav Uciky, Victor Fleming, Roberto Rossellini, Otto Preminger, and Bresson. The section on Procès de Jeanne d'Arc includes an extract from the découpage, an interview with Jean Guitton and Bresson (see entry 218), and articles by Jean Mambrino, Jean Sémolué, and Michel Estève. (See separate entries under ea