Actors looking up and looking down all the time
Why did Bresson ask the actors to do this? Is it just a matter of style?
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MovieChat Forums > Au hasard Balthazar (1966) Discussion > Actors looking up and looking down all t...
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He made chalk marks on the ground and asked them to keep looking at those. Bresson felt that the director should be the only creative force driving a film and that actors are little more than "models." He did not want actors injecting their own interpretations which might interfere with the director's vision. He felt that would turn it into filmed theater. He often ran through a scene with the actors many times, even as many as 50 times, until any trace of "acting" or "performance" was drained out of it, and the "models" were basically just going through the motions. He thought that was the point where something "magical" began to happen. American audiences are used to actors putting a lot of emotion into their performances so they see the actors in Bresson's films as flat, lifeless and almost zombie-like at times, but that was how he wanted it.
shareI can appreciate that is how he wanted it, but that will turn a lot of people off, including me. What a strange idea, not necesarilly bad now that I understand he meant it intentionally, but all the same I can;t stand it in the slightest. I thought they acted like people in "Invasion of the body snatchers", and yes I'm seriously comparing something in these two films. I love arthouse and the freedom it entails, but I think Bresson just isn't my cup of tea.
shareI agree that it turns people off. I thought it was just bad acting until I started reading about Bresson's technique and that he wanted them to be like that. Most movie audiences are used to seeing emotion and life in the characters. The people in this film and most of Bresson's films often seem like lifeless zombies, or like they've taken some tranquilizers or something. I would not have made it that way, I would have allowed the actors to be a little more natural acting and appearing, but not overacting, which is common in American cinema. This zombie-like quality of the actors may be one reason why Bresson's films still are not all that popular among the moviegoing public, even though they are highly rated and highly regarded by most film critics. That, and his tendency to leave out major plot points, forcing you to fill in the blanks yourself. In "Balthazar" we never find out who was murdered or who did it, or if the murder even happened. All we ever get is Arnold and Gerard accusing each other now and then. We never really find out for sure what Marie's fate was. As in "the real world" we only get bits and pieces of information and have to come to our own conclusions. I do like Bresson's efficient, economical style and ability to make a point quickly. In one quick shot we see Marie's father roll over in the bed, and instantly we know his grief. A typical Hollywood director might require a 5-minute scene to get across what Bresson gets across in 5 seconds. After watching a few of Bresson's films, most Hollywood films seem way too long and with way too many words.
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