robert bresson, léonce-henri burel, cinematographer

robert bresson, procès de jeanne d'arc 1962
opening sequence (single shot, 1 minute 15 seconds)

cinematography by léonce-henri burel (1892-1977) *
burel worked with directors including abel gance, jacques feyder, jean renoir, and robert bresson.

robert bresson & léonce-henri burel:
-journal d'un curé de campagne 1951
-un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou le vent souffle où il veut 1956
-pickpocket 1959
-procès de jeanne d'arc 1962

robert bresson, samuel fuller, jean-pierre melville & trains in cinema

train travel in:
-samuel fuller's pickup on south street, 1953 (aka pickpocket)
-robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
-jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967

(all films comprise a certain criminal activity in the underground)

abstractions from samuel fuller's pick-up on south street, 1953
(dp. joseph macdonald *)

moments from robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
(dp. léonce-henri burel)

abstractions from jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967
(dp. henri decaë)

images from 3 films, all captured and shown here in an attempt to look at the works closely with a magnifying glass, and highlighting small details not normally visible on a first viewing, or even a thirtieth viewing (particularly le samouraï).
having recently read an article by jonas mekas, in which he said that film criticism/history based on 1-2 viewings of a film was totally worthless and that a writer/historian needed 30 viewings before saying anything, these bresson posts are an attempt to look very closely at the films, not from just reading about the works, but by watching them analytically and repetitively, and attempting to view the films in a way that extends the 24 frames per second to 24 frames per minute, to slow them down with the eye.
after looking at the films frame by frame, a regular viewing becomes completely different, a world of details.


(also, please look at my kurosawa entry on the auteurs film journal)
((more obsessive bresson business here and here))

robert bresson, léonce-henri burel, jacques becker, ghislain cloquet, sans personnes

robert bresson, un condamné à mort s'est échappé, 1956

(kiefer)

(beuys)

jacques becker, le trou, 1960

two prison escape films,
(moments without human presence)

-robert bresson, un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou le vent souffle où il veut (aka a man escaped), 1956 (dp. léonce-henri burel)
-jacques becker, le trou, 1960 (dp. ghislain cloquet, bresson's cinematographer for au hasard balthazar 1966, mouchette 1967, une femme douce 1969)