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)

robert bresson, georges bernanos, nouvelle histoire de mouchette

the dark west wind, the sea wind, was already scattering the voices in the darkness. it toyed with them a moment and then lifted them all together, dispersing them with an angry roar. the voice which mouchette had just heard hovered in the air a long time, like a dead leaf floating interminably.

her secret was not one which could be shared, for it was connected with so many different things. it was like one of those sickly-looking plants which bring up, when one tries to uproot them, the lump of earth which has sustained them. yet she could make no effort to escape from the strange, delicious languor which filled her and seemed to be weaving around her, diligently and patiently, the threads of some invisible design.

the old woman had indeed uttered the necessary words. the wonderful thing was that she had somehow torn mouchette's secret from her. no mere words could have softened mouchette's stony heart or drawn tears from her.

but the voice which mouchette could hear was infinitely more gentle. was it a voice? she listened to it like a dog listening to his master as he encourages and pacifies him. it was like the old woman's voice, but also like arsène's, and now and again even like madame's. it spoke no human language; it was nothing more than a dying, whispering murmur. then it was silent.

then she twisted over and looked up into the sky. she felt the insidious flow of the water along her head and neck, filling her ears with its joyful sound. she knew that life was slipping away from her, and the smell of the grave itself rose to her nostrils.

text by george bernanos, nouvelle histoire de mouchette, librarie plon, 1937 (english edition: new york review books 2005)

robert bresson, the eye solicited alone makes the ear impatient, the ear solicited alone, makes the eye impatient

(some books related to robert bresson):

-robert bresson by rené briot, editions de cerf, 1957
-bresson by jean semolue, editions universitaires, 1959
-the early work of robert bresson by richard roud, found in film culture, no. 20, 1959
-robert bresson by michel estève (#8 in the cinema d'aujourd'hui series), editions sehers, 1962
-the films of robert bresson edited by ian cameron, praeger, 1969
-the films of robert bresson by daryl chin, program notes for museum of modern art, 1970
-transcendental style in film: ozu, bresson, dreyer by paul schrader, university of california press, 1972
-on bresson and une femme douce & on bresson and the standards of cinema by jonas mekas from movie journal: the rise of a new american cinema 1959-1971, the macmiillan company, 1972
-the rethoric of robert bresson by p. adams sitney from the essential cinema: essays on the films in the collection of anthology film archives, vol. 1., anthology film archives and new york university press, 1975
-notes sur le cinematographe by robert bresson, gallimard, 1975
-notes on the cinematographer by robert bresson, urizen, 1977 & green integer, 1997
-fragments: bresson's film style by lindley hanlon, associated university presses, 1986
-cinematography vs. the cinema: bresson's figures from modernist montage: the obscurity of vision in cinema and literature by p. adams sitney, columbia university press, 1990
-robert bresson, éloge, cinémathèque français, 1997 (similar to the cinematheque ontario monograph)
-robert bresson edited by james quandt, cinematheque ontario, 1998
-le corps au cinema: keaton, bresson, cassavetes by vincent amiel, presses universitaires de france, 1998
-l'argent by kent jones, bfi, 1999
-la bellezza e lo sguardo : il cinematografo di robert bresson by luciano de giusti, il castoro, 2000
-robert bresson by keith reader, manchester university press, 2000
-le cinema de robert bresson : de l'effet de reel à l'effet de sublime by jean-louis provoyeur, harmattan, 2003
-robert bresson: a spiritual style in film by joseph cunneen, continuum, 2003
-robert bresson by philippe arnaud, cahiers du cinema, 2003
-the hidden god, moma 2003 (includes james quandt on robert bresson’s au hasard balthasar and le diable probablement)
-touching god: the novels of georges bernanos in the films of robert bresson by beth kathryn curran, peter lang publishing, 2006

-journal d'un curé de campagne by georges bernanos, librarie plon, 1936 (english editions: macmillan co., 1965 & carroll & graf, 1983/2002)
-nouvelle histoire de mouchette by georges bernanos, librarie plon, 1937 (english edition: new york review books 2005)

mouchette

(book quotes to follow)
((title from bresson's own book))

-more info found on univ. of california, berkeley library site
-for a very fine bibliography, see the essential cinema by anthology film archive
-download soundtrack to mouchette here