Tuesday, March 4, 2008

robert bresson, anatomy of a crime (in the manner of a pickpocket)












(lessons in the cafe)








(our hero and his accessory)







(our hero pickpocketing a watch)










(trainstation segment)
from robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959

"bresson distilled the motion picture narrative down to a particular essence. bresson's movies are looks and gestures and precisely arranged sounds" j hoberman


frontispiece from the memoirs of george barrington, 1790
see also
r. s. lambert, prince of pickpockets, 1930
(biography of the famed pickpocket george barrington, our hero's bible in the film)

3 comments:

the art of memory said...

images from the artificial eye

Seth Nehil said...

A Bresson moment I find astounding is the "bumpercars" sequence in Mouchette. It shares with the pickpocket sequence the flow of inevitability. Amazing how Mouchette is mastered and moves within architecture and bodies as systems of control. Each shot inscribes another limit on her actions and she responds with acceptance, participation and rebellion. All of course indicated by subtle gestures and glances.

the art of memory said...

indeed his near-invisible moments are so powerful, not just for the attention they don't call to themselves but for their liminal qualities (similar to sound art).