In other great films of world cinema, we all praise the actors' perfrormances, while in others poor perfromances are accused of ruining the essence of the movie. In Bersson's films, though, the litterally amateurish acting is deemed to be a point of view and is also praised.
Why is that?I guess someone in favour might state that in Bresson's films this kind of acting helps. But is that really a solid argument?
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Because it's beautiful! In the unrealistic acting there can be found a sort of ethereal truth of beauty. It's hard to describe, but it completes the film for me.
In some Bresson films I feel the acting doesn't work (Une Femme Douce, Trial of Joan of Arc, The Devil, Probably), but I think the best argument that can be made about it is that in most cases, is that it works. The lack of emotion allows the viewer to choose how he reacts to the action onscreen, without cues from the actors.
And I also would argue that in most cases, this is justified by the plot. In Pickpocket, the LaSalle character feels superior to all others. In Au Hasard Balthazar, the place depicted is so inhuman that they can't emote. Same goes for Diary of a Country Priest and Mouchette. In A Man Escaped, this man is so disaffected by the world he's in that he ceases to care-and thus, emote.
A great fallacy people often make is judging something by a preconceived notion of how it should be, without examining it in the context of the picture at hand. Good acting is this, bad acting is anything else, and context be damned. This often persists to other criteria, like narrative cohesion (And, indeed, narrative of any kind), sympathetic characters and a traditional story arc. That's about the worst thing one can do. After all, cinema is the big picture and not the miniutae that builds it.
The acting style is justified by the subject/tone of the film as the last guy said. In both Diary of a country priest and Au Hasard Balthazar, this style is used to emphasise cold, detached and isolated communities/people, but i think the best example (not necessarily the best film though) is Pickpocket, a character study of someone who is completely emotionally detached. After all, he is stealing from people, perfecting an art which requires a lack of empathy, someone who does not feel guilt.He chooses to pickpocket over his relationships, over a job. He feels detached also in the sense that he feels superior to others, a theory which he is prepared to tell a police chief, which also suggests a lack of fear or even a will to be caught which is hinted at in his arrest.The criminal personality explored in Pickpocket requires the withdrawn, emotionless acting. I don't see Bresson as a director who was so stubborn as to champion a philosophy/a style over his subject matter, but I think that one requires the other.
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