The Invention of Robert Bresson , livre ebook

THE INVENTION OF ROBERT BRESSON
THE INVENTION OF ROBERT BRESSON
The Auteur and His Market
Colin Burnett
Indiana University Press
Bloomington and Indianapolis
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2017 by Colin Burnett
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1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
for Carol and Norman
To direct attention to the artist s market invites misunderstanding. There are those who resent any suggestion that the artist is not an absolute spirit pursuing his aesthetical way like a bird: they will read any proposition about the relation between artist and market as a coarse innuendo about artists following a style because it is profitable .
But the artist need never become a creature of the market: he may choose which of the briefs he will take up, and he responds to some of its suggestions, ignores others, and sometimes turns yet others on their heads in a pointed way. Artists who get along in a market, and most of the ones we know about did so, manifest their brief and in it general social facts, as well as current ideas about art.
-Michael Baxandall,
The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Alternative Institutions
1 Under the Aegis of Surrealism: How a Publicity Artist Became the Manager of an Independent Film Company
2 The Rise of the Accursed: When Bresson Was Copresident of an Avant-Garde Cin -Club
Part II. Vanguard Forms
3 Purifying Cinema: The Provocations of Faithful Adaptation and First-Person Storytelling in Ignace de Loyola (1948) and Journal d un cur de campagne (1951)
4 Theorizing the Image: Bresson s Challenge to the Realists-Sparse Set Design, Acting, and Photography from Les anges du p ch (1943) to Une femme douce (1969)
5 Vernacularizing Rhythm: Bresson and the Shift Toward Dionysian Temporalities-Plot Structure and Editing from Journal d un cur de campagne (1951) to L argent (1983)
Afterword
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
I VIEW THIS BOOK as a testament to the power stubborn hunches often hold over the life of an academic. For roughly eighteen years, since I was an undergraduate student at Concordia University in Montr al, I ve been riding a single hunch-that the cinema of Robert Bresson could be more effectively grounded in history. Many deserve thanks for helping me turn a hunch into a dissertation, and now a dissertation into a book.
In 1998, Edmund Egan, my professor of philosophical aesthetics, recommended Susan Sontag s Spiritual Style in the Films of Robert Bresson. I read it-repeatedly. It was a defining experience. Two of her ideas set my mind abuzz (and continue to do so today): Bresson s is a reflective art that holds emotional payoffs in abeyance, and the tradition to which it belongs is poorly understood.
Concordia University is where the search for answers about this tradition first began to yield results. I am particularly grateful to my mentors there. Martin Lefebvre taught me the importance of methodological precision and lucidity, and of asking, why does this matter? John W. Locke generously committed to an independent study on Bresson s cinematographers when neither one of us was certain it would lead anywhere. Virginia Nixon introduced me to the work of Michael Baxandall, which proved to be pivotal years later. Peter Rist showed enthusiasm for my first paper on Bresson, and encouraged me to pursue an MA on the strength of it. Donato Totaro published my first piece on Bresson. And I had many long conversations about Bresson (and much else) with fellow MA students Michael Baker, Brian Crane, Santiago Hidalgo, Farbod Honarpisheh, Randolph Jordan, Chris Meir, and Adam Rosadiuk, and each left a lasting impression.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my early findings grew into a dissertation project. Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell encouraged me to be creative as I expanded the range of my primary materials, shared their views on various art-historical approaches, and opened many doors. Lea Jacobs bolstered my commitment to close analysis. My dissertation committee-Jeff Smith, Ben Singer, Vance Kepley Jr., and Barbara Buenger-consistently pushed the project toward fresh avenues of film and art-historical research. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my advisor, Kelley Conway. Her extensive knowledge of France and of French film history and scholarship helped me make new connections and develop confidence as I dove deeper and deeper into the circumstantial matter. Merci infiniment!
My fellow Badgers endured my prattling on about Bresson for years. I hope they know how much I picked up from them-all passionate lovers of ideas and movies: Masha Belodubrovskya, Casey Coleman, Brandon Colvin, Kyle Conway, Kaitlyn Fyfe, Heather Heckman, Jonah Horwitz, Derek Johnson, Charlie Michael, Mark Minett, Sreya Mitra, John Powers, Matt Sienkiewicz, Josh Shepperd, Jake Smith, Katherine Spring, Dave Resha, and Brad Schauer.
My colleagues and students at Washington University in St. Louis, where I have been since 2011, created nothing short of ideal conditions for converting the dissertation into a book. Gaylyn Studlar, William Paul, Todd Decker, Jennifer Kapcynski, and Julia Walker read earlier versions of the manuscript and provided vital feedback. Robert Hegel, Diane Lewis, Philip Sewell, and Ignacio S nchez Prado all generously shared their thoughts about the challenges of book publishing and much else. The final stages of research benefited from the intrepidity of Melissa Forbes, Eloisa Monteoliva, Carly Schulman, and Claudia Vaughn. And I would be remiss not to give special thanks to Rebecca Wanzo, a dear colleague and friend who at every phase of the revision process pressed me to think big-and then bigger-about the implications of my ideas and the reach of my findings. There s a Qu b cois expression: je me souviens .
Over the last decade, I ve been lucky enough to benefit from feedback and encouragement from a number of colleagues in French film studies. Susan Hayward had kind words for my research way back at the 2005 Studies in French Cinema conference, and it was a considerable boost. Phil Powrie kindly walked a young MA student through some of the basics of scholarly publishing. James Quandt included an earlier version of chapter 1 in Robert Bresson (Revised) -a singular honor-and has allowed me to pick his brain about French cinema ever since. Dudley Andrew has shared numerous research materials over the years, and offered reassuring comment on an article that formed the basis of chapter 2 . Richard Neupert read every word of the manuscript and reminded me at a crucial moment to think of the reader. And the two anonymous readers, Tim Palmer and Brian Price, provided sage advice that challenged me to clarify my intervention and-the best recommendation any author could hope for-to do what I do best.
I ve taken several research trips to Paris over the years and been greeted with warmth and hospitality-despite my clunky accent d Qu becker . At the Biblioth que du Film, archivist Valdo Kneubuhler and his patient team put up with my irritatingly frequent photocopy requests and assisted me in uncovering more than I could have imagined about the production history of Bresson s films. Many, many thanks are due to Jonathan Hourigan, who opened the most important door of them all, provided line-by-line commentary on my first scholarly article on Bresson, and continues to impress with his generosity and knowledge of all things Bresson. Sidney J z quel clarified for me the importance of his uncle, Roger Leenhardt, to the postwar era, and provided important resources for and feedback on parts of chapter 2 . And Myl ne Bresson kindly hosted me for lunch on several occasions, countenanced my impassioned quibbling over the details of her husband s legacy, and helped me steer clear of error on several points.
Support from various Canadian institutions pushed things along here and there. I benefited from a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral fellowship. Over the course of several summers, the archivists at the Cin math que Qu b coise facilitated my discovery of several important texts. The Montr al-based Advanced Research Team on History and Epistemology of Moving Image Studies (ARTHEMIS) provided me a forum to present the book s argument at its 2010 conference. Doublement merci Martin! And La bo te noire s extensive catalogue of VHS tapes and DVDs allowed me to embark upon my initial tours du France on film. The day it closed marked the end of an era in Montr al film culture.
Writing a first book-especially one that veers off the beaten path of the conventional director s study -is much less a feat when you have the backing of a patient and rigorous editor like Raina Polivka of Indiana Uni