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Credits
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Summary
When he fails to get money from his parents, schoolboy Norbert agrees to use counterfeit
notes provided by a classmate. He passes the forged money onto a photographic shop
owner, who, later realising they are forged, palms them off on an unsuspecting fuel delivery
man, Yvon. The latter is arrested when he unwittingly tries to pass the fake money
on to a restaurateur. Yvon tries to clear his name, but the man who gave him the
forged note, a shop assistant in a photographer’s shop, denies having met Yvon before.
In prison, Yvon’s world changes for the worse, when he loses first his child, then his
wife. When he leaves prison, he appears to have lost his soul or any reason for
living...
Review
L’argent is Robert Bresson’s final film and the summit of a career as a film director
spanning 40 years. If not his best film, it is quite possibly his most intense and
thought-provoking. It addresses themes which frequently recur in Bresson’s earlier
works, such as the irresistible corrupting nature of evil, the power of an individual
to shape another person’s destiny, and the thorny, hazardous path to redemption.
What sets this film apart from its contemporaries is Bresson’s minimalist style. Rather than film dramatic events, he presents the aftermath, the echo, or the reflection of such events. Far from distancing the viewer from the drama, this approach actually serves to engage him or her more fully in what is happening. As a result, the film is compelling from the first scene and each tragic development has a genuinely shocking impact. The film’s dramatic ending - when the central character goes on a killer rampage - is so horrific, so disturbing, because Bresson shows us the absolute minimum: the rest is left to our imagination. It is a brilliantly effective device and one which, sadly, is rarely emulated by other directors who prefer to rely on depictions of graphic violence to create an impression. Bresson certainly deserved his Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival that year for this stunningly effective and remarkable piece of cinema. © James Travers 2001 Write a review for this film... |
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