Picture for event

Robert Bresson Double Bill: Pickpocket + L'argent

-
Sun 16 October 2005 // 19:30

One of the greatest French filmmakers of all, Bresson developed an approach to filmmaking almost entirely without precedent - a pure, cinematic language that broke away from heavily theatrical film convention. His legacy endures in a body of work that continues to inspire generations of filmmakers. Tonight we present his two greatest films.

PICKPOCKET
Robert Bresson / 1959 / France / 72mins / 35mm / Cert PG
(Sun 16th / 7.30pm / £2)

Vital research meant Bresson's tale of a Parisian misfit contained one of the most stunning scenes of thievery in cinema history, as a group of pickpockets work the central Paris train station in a silent symphony of close-ups. An obsessed Paul Schraeder based his Taxi Driver script around the story.
L'ARGENT
Robert Bresson / 1983 / France / 81mins / 35mm / Cert PG
(Sun 16th / 9.30pm / £2)

Based on Tolstoy's story 'The Forged Note', Bresson comments on the corrupting power of money and the cruellness of fate in a timely 1980s satire, that despite lean running time, is epic in scope and amibition. A fitting swan-song for a director who felt that with this film he had said it all.