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Diary of a Country Priest
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[Journal d'un curé de campagne]
1951 - France
Director
Robert Bresson
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Bresson’s minimalism is certainly a worthwhile voice in cinema, but perhaps it’s time to finally admit it has nothing to say to me. The young country priest, with his temperamental stomach and dreamy eyes (so says everyone in the parish, from the schoolgirls to the atheist doctor), is perhaps the most dismal depressive in all of cinema… though so many in Bresson’s oeuvre would give him a run for his money. Then, given the acting technique, he is not even a convincing depressive. The film is a book adaptation and feels like it in every frame; if Bresson doesn’t want to add any visual interest to it, I’d rather read the book. Yes, something stands between me and Bresson: he cannot move me, though I respect him and thank him for the influence he’s had on other filmmakers. There is value in reducing film to its essential components and I suppose he does this effectively — superlatively. But do I get much pleasure out of watching such an exercise? Evidently, no.
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Waterloo Bridge 1931, James Whale
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