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L'Argent [1983]


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Wooden acting for emotional effect
Review date: 2008-07-14 Rating: 8 out of 10

It is indeed rare that such wooden acting can be excusable. In the case of L'Argent it is, because somehow, and don't ask me how, the film gets by without emotional performances. Indeed, it would be an entirely different film if the actors were any good. As it is they go through the motions in such an expressionless way, that I am convinced Bresson wanted it that way. Bad actors usually over act not under act. These are simply pawns in a game, moved from scene to scene by the director's invisible hand. It is a touch of genius if you ask me, because as the audience I found myself having to emote for the actors, to take their place so to speak. In Bresson's inimitable style, where each shot seems to take on a moral weight which is passed on to the next shot and the next and the next, and where it is clear he is not aiming for realism but more for a kind of sparse imitation of what is going on (see the scene in the cafe where Yvon pushes the waiter), the wooden acting works.

I don't discount the possibility that Bresson simply couldn't get good acting performances out of his cast this time around. But even if that is the case, the film works. And how! It created in me a sensation I compare to that of being in the presence of a frigid and ungiving lover who is so beautiful, her presence alone is enough to sustain the relationship.

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Reviews


Review the film not the reviews
Review date: 2007-08-24 Rating: 4 out of 10

Too many reviewers here abuse the reviews pages to attack other reviewers who do not share their opinions as if there was only right or wrong when it comes to art. They should talk about the film not each other. Yes I am guilty too but I see so much of this I had to comment.

The film itself is quite poor to my eyes. Bad acting and a bad ending are the main reasons. The short story is much better and I would recommend buying that instead. If you must see this film, rent it rather than buy unless you are a die hard fan of the director.


The last masterpiece of a great filmmaker
Review date: 2007-08-19 Rating: 10 out of 10

The previous review is to my mind inexplicable, as 'L'Argent' is clearly one of Bresson's finest films and one of the greatest and most harrowing movies of all time.

His previous film, 'Le Diable Probablement', was flawed by Bresson's uncertainty about the milieu he was writing about. Some of the same peculiar innocence is evident here, but the emotional power and sheer intensity of the film more than makes up for this viewer's occasional amusement at Bresson's almost casual shorthand for the Parisian underworld.

An upper-class French kid passes a forged banknote in order to buy a camera. The shopkeeper notices the forgery, but decides to pass it on rather than inform the police. A blue-collar worker unwittingly takes it in change, and is then arrested when he tries to pay with it in a bar. From then on it just gets worse and worse.

The final reel is not absurd or unbelievable at all, but has a very rare example of successful 'dream logic' - on his release from prison, the hapless deliveryman has been abandoned by his wife and turns to crime just to survive. It ends up in a shocking murder that releases the pent-up frustration, anger and despair of the rest of the film.

'L'Argent' is not unsuccessful at all, but the work of a master. Bresson knew what he was doing when he used non-professional actors and the ones in this film are spot on. This is quite simply one of the greatest, eeriest and most moving films I have ever seen.

Much to admire but disappointingly detached
Review date: 2006-07-26 Rating: 6 out of 10

L'Argent is commonly hailed as Bresson's parting masterpiece, but sadly it's seriously undermined by atrocious performances and a completely unconvincing last reel. Which is a shame, because there's much to admire here. His adaptation of a Tolstoy short story about the disastrous consequences for the innocent recipient of a forged banknote has for the most part a terrific sense of narrative, exposing the way petty crime can have major moral repercussions throughout the social scale, with the rich able to buy or lie their way out of trouble. But oh, those performances! Bresson made a career out of soliciting convincing performances out of amateurs, so you have to wonder just why they are nearly all so very terrible here. Not only can they not act or give even the vaguest impression of life, intelligent or otherwise, but they move so mechanically - mannequin-like with back straight and arms down their sides like lead weights as they try to remember to hit their marks - that you wonder if Bresson actually intended the effect. Whether he did or not, it's like watching outtakes from a public information film at times, or the Swedish phrase book sketch from Monty Python. A couple of performers get by, but Christian Patey is so physically and verbally awkward in the lead that it's painful watching his progress, but in all the Wong ways.

Yet for 70 minutes at least the strength of the narrative and Bresson's spare, economical telling, lend it a relentless forward momentum, manage to hold you. Tragically, the film's resolution fails to convince in any way, turning its initially fundamentally decent protagonist into a money-hungry thrill-killer not as a logical consequence of his experiences but purely as a plot contrivance to prove a point and provide an ending. The final (offscreen) mass murder simply seems tacked-on sensationalism, especially considering the absurd set of circumstances that places him in the bosom of the family he kills.

A good film but ultimately a frustrating and unrewarding one for all it's strong points.

Bresson's final masterpiece, spare, elliptical, pessimistic
Review date: 2001-09-29 Rating: 10 out of 10

Bresson's films, never upbeat at the best of times, became increasingly pessimistic, and this final film shows his view of the corrupting effect of money. Based on a Tolstoy story updated to 1980s Paris, it shows how the passing of a forged note turns an apparently honest young man into a mass murderer; this may sound melodramatic, but seeing the film it becomes wholly believable. Bresson's spare and elliptical film-making technique is as fresh as ever; no shot is unnecessary or wasted, and you have to work hard to fill in the gaps, as it were (a variant, perhaps, on Godard's jump-cuts). The effect on the attentive viewer is sheer exhileration. As usual, Bresson eschews psychological motivation; for example, one character who is shown as a downright crook is suddenly revealed to have given away much of his money to charity. Nobody is totally bad in Bresson's universe; this can be interpreted in a Christian way by saying that God's grace breaks through to even the most hardened sinner. You don't actually see any of the violence; it's all implied (or happens off-screen). A brilliant film, and a fitting conclusion to a brilliant film-making career.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Christian Patey
Sylvie Van den Elsen
Caroline Lang
Michel Briguet
Vincent Risterucci

Creators:
Christian Patey (Primary Contributor)
Sylvie Van den Elsen (Primary Contributor)
Emmanuel Machuel (Cinematographer)
Pasqualino De Santis (Cinematographer)
Robert Bresson (Writer)
Antoine Gannagé (Producer)
Daniel Toscan du Plantier (Producer)
Jean-Marc Henchoz (Producer)
Leo Tolstoy (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Artificial Eye
Manufacturer: Artificial Eye
EAN: 5021866036304
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-05-23
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 82 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1983-12-09
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: Latin (Original Language)

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