History Creator / RobertBresson

Bresson is sometimes associated with the FrenchNewWave but he was actually considerably older than the likes of Francis Truffaut, Creator/JeanLucGodard and Jacques Rivette. However, they all tended to revere him, especially Godard, and he was if anything even more of an influence on later filmmakers such as the Dardenne Brothers, Aki Kaurismaki, Martin Scorsese (''Film/TaxiDriver'' is enormously influenced by Bresson) and, in particular, ''Taxi Driver''’s screenwriter Paul Schrader, whose book ''Ozu / Bresson / Dreyer: Transcendental Style in Film'' contains some of the acutest writing about Bresson. Two of Schrader’s films, ''American Gigolo'' and ''Light Sleeper'', contain endings which are, as he freely acknowledges, a direct homage to the end of Bresson’s ''Pickpocket''.

Bresson is an unusual director from TV Tropes' point of view because he was notably ''trope-averse''. After his first couple of movies he started using non-professional actors, not because he was too cheap or was trying to make some point about actors as such but because he didn't like what professional actors bring to films, namely performances, and all the tropes that go with them, from MethodActing to ChewingTheScenery and all stops in between. Likewise, there are usually no [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Moments]] of [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Anything]] in a Bresson film; his whole method of storytelling means that you just don't get those beats where the audience wants to punch its collective fist in the air, or burst out laughing, or go "Awwwww" -- those who admire his films generally regard them as being more or less Crowning Moments of True. This often has the effect of annoying non-admirers, and Bresson didn't make things better with some of his more pompous and oracular remarks on the subject, in which he sometimes came across as believing that only he made real cinema, and all other filmmakers were basically making filmed theater.

Bresson is an unusual director from TV Tropes' point of view because he was notably ''trope-averse''. After his first couple of movies he started using non-professional actors, not because he was too cheap or was trying to make some point about actors as such but because he didn't like what professional actors bring to films, namely performances, and all the tropes that go with them, from MethodActing to ChewingTheScenery and all stops in between. As a result, it's probably easier to characterise his films in terms what tropes they avert. Nevertheless, tropes are present in his films as they are in everyone else's, and sometimes to great effect.

* DullSurprise: A characteristic response of actors in Bresson's films, largely on account of his preference for non-professional actors. He managed to make it work for him by means of extraordinarily acute editing; Bresson never dwells on a character's reaction, but always moves on fairly quickly to the next beat in the story. As for whether this works for the viewer, as with so much in his work, YourMileageMayVary.

* Creator/FyodorDostoevsky: Bresson adapted two of his stories, and as per Paul Schrader, ''Pickpocket'' is heavily inspired by ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment''.

* Creator/LeoTolstoy: ''L'argent'' is an AdaptationDistillation of Tolstoy's ''The Forged Coupon''.

* TropesAreTools: Largely averted. Bresson didn't really believe this, and went to enormous pains to not rely on existing cinematic tropes, but to make up new ways to tell the stories that he wanted to tell. Unsurprisingly, this has tended to alienate some cinema fans; those who hate Bresson tend to regard his films as being cold, mechanical or rigid; those who love him tend to regard him as just more perceptive, inventive and focused than most other directors in the entire history of cinema. YourMileageMayVary.

* ChekhovsGunman: Jost in ''A Man Escaped'' is this to Fontaine, the main character. Initially, Fontaine regards Jost as at best TheLoad and at worst a liability. [[spoiler: In the end, Fontaine decides to take Jost along with him, and at one point during the escape they reach an unexpected obstacle which Fontaine couldn't have overcome by himself. He does so with Jost's help, making Jost this trope.]]

* ChristianityIsCatholic: Bresson's films tend to be very Catholic in terms of subject matter and themes. Some theorists have stated he was inspired by Jansenism, a French Catholic sect that emphasized austerity and simplicty. Bresson confused the issues further by calling himself a "Catholic atheist", whatever that means. Religion is less overt a subject matter in his later films than his earlier ones, and indeed by the time of his final film in 1983, Bresson was calling the description of him as a Jansenist 'madness'. By the 1970s at any rate, Bresson no longer seems to believe in Christianity as a solution for anything.

* Chekhov's Gunman: Jost in ''A Man Escaped'' is this to Fontaine, the main character. Initially, Fontaine regards Jost as at best TheLoad and at worst a liability. [[spoiler: In the end, Fontaine decides to take Jost along with him, and at one point during the escape they reach an unexpected obstacle which Fontaine couldn't have overcome by himself. He does so with Jost's help, making Jost this trope.]]

* TropesAreTools: Largely averted. Bresson didn't really believe this, and went to enormous pains to not rely on existing cinematic tropes, but to make up new ways to tell the stories that he wanted to tell. Unsurprisingly, this has tended to alienate some cinema fans; those who hate Bresson tend to regard his films as being 'cold' or 'rigid', those who love him tend to regard him as just more imaginative and single-minded than any other director. YourMileageMayVary.

* {{Determinator}}: The hero of ''A man escaped'', who painstakingly busts his way out of a German prison fortress. In a meta-example, Bresson himself, who was absolutely determined to make his films the way he wanted to and if he couldn't do that, the film didn't get made.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''A man escaped''. I mean, come on.

* ChristianityIsCatholic: Bresson's films are very Catholic in terms of subject matter and themes. Some theorists have stated he was inspired by Jansenism, a French Catholic sect that emphasized austerity and simplicty. Bresson confused the issues further by calling himself a "Catholic atheist", whatever that means. Religion is less overt a subject matter in his later films than his earlier ones

Bresson is an unusual director from TV Tropes' point of view because he was notably ''trope-averse''. After his first couple of movies he started using non-professional actors, not because he was too cheap or was trying to make some point about actors as such but because he didn't like what professional actors bring to films, namely performances, and all the tropes that go with them, from [[MethodActing]] to [[ChewingTheScenery]] and all stops in between. As a result, it's probably easier to characterise his films in terms what tropes they avert. Nevertheless, tropes are present in his films as they are in everyone else's, and sometimes to great effect.

Bresson is sometimes associated with the FrenchNewWave but he was actually considerably older than the likes of Francis Truffaut, Creator/JeanLucGodard and Jacques Rivette. However, they all tended to revere him, especially Godard, and he was if anything even more of an influence on later filmmakers such as the Dardenne Brothers, Aki Kaurismaki, Martin Scorsese (''Film/TaxiDriver'' is enormously influenced by Bresson) and, in particular, ''Taxi Driver''’s screenwriter Paul Schrader, whose book ''Ozu / Bresson / Dreyer: Transcendental Style in Film'' contains some of the acutest writing about Bresson. Two of Schrader’s films, such as ''American Gigolo'' and ''Light Sleeper'', contain endings which are, as he freely acknowledges, a direct homage to the end of Bresson’s ''Pickpocket''.

* StoicWoobie: Very many, notably Mouchette in ''Mouchette'' and Balthazar in ''Au hasard Balthazar''.

* {{Determinator}}: The hero of ''A man escaped'', who painstakingly busts his way out of a German prison fortress.

Bresson was older than the French directors associated with the New Wave (the likes of Francis Truffaut, Creator/JeanLucGodard and Jacques Rivette) but he was revered by all of them, and was equally an influence on later filmmakers such as the Dardenne Brothers, Martin Scorsese (''Film/TaxiDriver'' is enormously influenced by Bresson) and, in particular, ''Taxi Driver''’s screenwriter Paul Schrader, whose book ''Ozu / Bresson / Dreyer: Transcendental Style in Film'' contains some of the acutest writing about Bresson. Two of Schrader’s films, such as ''American Gigolo'' and ''Light Sleeper'', contain endings which are, as he freely acknowledges, a direct homage to the end of Bresson’s ''Pickpocket''.

''Les Anges du péché'' {''The angels of sin'') (1943)

Bresson was older than the French directors associated with the New Wave (the likes of FrancisTruffaut, Creator/JeanLucGodard and Jacques Rivette) but he was revered by all of them, and was equally an influence on later filmmakers such as the Dardenne Brothers, Martin Scorsese (''Film/TaxiDriver'' is enormously influenced by Bresson) and, in particular, ''Taxi Driver''’s screenwriter Paul Schrader, whose book ''Ozu / Bresson / Dreyer: Transcendental Style in Film'' contains some of the acutest writing about Bresson. Two of Schrader’s films, such as ''American Gigolo'' and ''Light Sleeper'', contain endings which are, as he freely acknowledges, a direct homage to the end of Bresson’s ''Pickpocket''.