From May to July, there will be a few re-releases of the
French auteur Robert Bresson’s films in cinemas in Hong
Kong . It is a great opportunity to watch the classics made by this
cinematic master, who has influenced the French New Wave and various art cinema
movements around the world. I have already talked to his masterpiece, ‘Au
Hasard Balthazar’ before, and this time I would like to talk about another of
his film, ‘The Trial of Joan of Arc’.
The film was special because Bresson has attempted to
achieve a maximum authenticity in his version of Joan of Arc’s story. Derived
from historical records and transcripts, he required the actors in the film to
deliver out the lines ‘as it was’, without any dramatic enhancements through
performance. The result was a very unsentimental, or even stoical for certain
viewers, portrayal of Joan of Arc’s unjust trial by the English officers before
she was burnt at stake. Bresson’s film has been attracted comparison with Carl
Th. Dreyer’s silent classic. Through Bresson could not totally identity with
Dreyer’s style when the latter was approaching the same topic, both film
succeeded in their own rights because the directors have respectively deployed
meticulous techniques to generate genuine feelings from the audience when they
witnessed the unfair and ridiculous treatment of an iconic heroine of history.
Bresson had a strong belief that the unique aspects of
cinema should be harnessed to create to good film, to make a film ‘cinematic’
rather than ‘theatrical’. He tended to be critical of an over-stylized
performance from the actors, and therefore he would rehearse the actors until
they were not showing any forms of performance when they were acting, until the
specific portrayal was natural and ‘as it was’. That was why the audience would
seldom find any overt emotions from the actors in a Bresson’s film (similar to
Jean-Pierre Melville’s films), and it could often alienate certain audience
because they expected to see sentimental performances, abundant in traditional
American cinema.
What is also essential for Bresson’s approach is
‘cinematographie’ – by using camera positioning, which is certainly a unique
aspect of motion picture – to lead to audience’s identification. A great
example was the one in which when Joan of Arc was locked in the prison cell.
Curiously, there was a ‘peeping’ hole on the door, and the judge and a number
of other English officers attempted to gaze on her through this portal, as if
they were executing clinical gazes on her proclaimed asexuality and virginity.
The camera’s positioning made the audience notice that Joan of Arc was aware of
being spied on, and this compositional arrangement could draw the spectators
into identification, without a need of any exuberant performances.
Anyone interested in cinema should not miss these valuable
opportunities to revisit these art-house classics!
by Ed Law
27/5/2017
Film Analysis
