Grace and Perfection: The Films of Robert Bresson
Grace and Perfection: The Films of Robert Bresson
March 3–April 1, 2017
A near-complete restrospective of the French director's austere yet compassionate work.
Read full description-
Mouchette
-
Au hasard Balthazar
-
Pickpocket
-
A Man Escaped
-
The Devil, Probably
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Past Films
Diary of a Country Priest
Robert Bresson
France, 1950Friday, March 3 7:30 PMIntroduction and post-screening discussion with Tony PipoloView DetailsA young priest tries to lead an exemplary life, but his parishioners respond with scorn and indifference. “A film of great purity, and at the end, almost Bach-like intensity” (Pauline Kael).
L'argent
Robert Bresson
France, 1983Digital Restoration
Saturday, March 4 5:30 PMIntroduction and post-screening discussion with Tony PipoloView DetailsA young man unknowingly passes counterfeit cash and sets off an escalating spiral of crimes in Bresson’s last film, a tough, terse investigation of the power of money adapted from a Tolstoy novella.
Les anges du péché
Robert Bresson
France, 1943Imported 35mm Print
Sunday, March 5 7 PMView DetailsBresson’s visual elegance and uncompromising narrative style are already in evidence in his first feature film, which follows a sophisticated young woman into the closed world of a convent.
The Trial of Joan of Arc
Robert Bresson
France, 1962Imported 35mm Print
Saturday, March 11 6:30 PMView DetailsIn his austere, transcendent dramatization of transcripts from Joan of Arc’s trial, Bresson conveys the mystery of the woman and the reality of the saint.
Pickpocket
Robert Bresson
France, 1959Saturday, March 11 8:15 PMView DetailsA Parisian thief’s anguish and redemption are played out in Bresson’s famous reworking of Crime and Punishment. “An unmitigated masterpiece” (Paul Schrader).
Les dames du Bois de Boulogne
Robert Bresson
France, 1945Imported 35mm Print
Sunday, March 12 5 PMView DetailsBresson updates an eighteenth-century Diderot novel to contemporary Paris with this story of a beautiful woman who takes revenge on her ex-lover. “A landmark in cinema history” (David Thomson).
A Man Escaped
Robert Bresson
France, 1956Saturday, March 18 6 PMView DetailsFrom the true account of a Resistance leader who escaped from a Nazi prison just before he was to be executed, Bresson created a film where the drama is all internal. “Essential viewing” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).
Au hasard Balthazar
Robert Bresson
France, 1966Sunday, March 19 4:30 PMView DetailsBresson found the perfect protagonist for this film in a donkey, “born, like all beings, to suffer and die needlessly and mysteriously. . . . A morbidly beautiful flower of cinematic art” (Andrew Sarris).
Au hasard Balthazar
Robert Bresson
France, 1966Friday, March 24 7:30 PMView DetailsBresson found the perfect protagonist for this film in a donkey, “born, like all beings, to suffer and die needlessly and mysteriously. . . . A morbidly beautiful flower of cinematic art” (Andrew Sarris).
Mouchette
Robert Bresson
France, 1967Saturday, March 25 6:30 PMView DetailsBresson’s portrayal of the life and death of a despised country girl is gritty yet lyrical and ultimately sublime. “In Mouchette, the world itself is a mystical stage” (J. Hoberman).
Une femme douce
Robert Bresson
France, 1969Digital Restoration
Saturday, March 25 8:15 PMView DetailsDominique Sanda stars in Bresson’s first color film, the simple, mysteriously resonant story of a young woman’s marriage and her suicide. Adapted from a Dostoyevsky short story.
Lancelot of the Lake
Robert Bresson
France, 1974Imported 35mm Print
Sunday, March 26 4:30 PMView DetailsBresson gives us Lancelot and Guinevere and the end of the Arthurian era, a brave experiment in sound, image, and souls. “Stunningly beautiful, mesmerizing, exhausting, uplifting, amazing.” (Time Out)
Pickpocket
Robert Bresson
France, 1959Wednesday, March 29 7 PMView DetailsA Parisian thief’s anguish and redemption are played out in Bresson’s famous reworking of Crime and Punishment. “An unmitigated masterpiece” (Paul Schrader).
The Devil, Probably
Robert Bresson
France, 1977Friday, March 31 7:30 PMView DetailsIn this portrait of a young Parisian whose personal crisis mirrors the ecological, political, and social disasters of his time, Bresson’s morally probing compassion meets the cynicism of the 1970s.
L'argent
Robert Bresson
France, 1983Digital Restoration
Saturday, April 1 6 PMIntroduction and post-screening discussion with Tony PipoloView DetailsA young man unknowingly passes counterfeit cash and sets off an escalating spiral of crimes in Bresson’s last film, a tough, terse investigation of the power of money adapted from a Tolstoy novella.