L’Argent (rewatch)

It’s a bit odd that out of the 10 Bresson films I’ve seen, this is the first one I’ve chosen to watch again.  I figured it would be A Man Escaped or Balthazar or Une Femme Douce.  I liked L’Argent the first time, but I wasn’t bowled over by it.  However, since it came out on DVD, I decided to give it a fresh look.  I’m glad I did.  Previously I had problems with the main character’s motivations in the final act, and that’s still an issue for me, but I have a deeper appreciation of the film’s finer aspects.  Bresson’s meticulous attention to detail and physicality, the beautiful framing, the poetic simplicity, the understated acting.  It makes me want to revisit his other films that I didn’t think much of before, Diary of a Country Priest, The Devil Probably and even Lancelot du Lac.  The DVD also contains an excellent commentary by Kent Jones, scholarly without a hint of pomposity.  Rating: 8

IMDb