Editing Robert Bresson (section)

=== Catholicism ===
[[File:Tombe de Robert Bresson (1901–1999) 4.jpg|thumb|alt=Robert Bresson's grave in Droue-sur-Drouette, France.|Bresson's grave in Droue-sur-Drouette, France.]]
Bresson was a Catholic, although he disagreed with some points of Catholic theology, explaining that he was not sure of the [[Universal resurrection#Christianity|resurrection of the body]] and "would rather be a [[Jansenism|Jansenist]] than [[Jesuits|Jesuit]]" due to his belief in [[predestination]].<ref name=":0" /> In his later life he stopped attending church services due to his dissatisfaction with the [[Second Vatican Council]]'s transition to the [[Mass of Paul VI]], explaining that while he still felt a sense of transcendence sitting in a cathedral, Vatican II's changes to the Mass made it harder for him to feel the presence of God.<ref name=":0" /> Although several writers claim that Bresson described himself as a "Christian atheist", it is not known in what context he made that statement (if he ever did).<ref>{{cite book |author=[[James Quandt]] |title=Robert Bresson |publisher=Cinemathèque Ontario |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-9682969-1-2 |page=411 |quote=Around the time of 'Lancelot du Lac' (1974), Bresson was said to have declared himself "a Christian atheist."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Bert Cardullo |title=The Films of Robert Bresson: A Casebook |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-84331-796-8 |page=xiii |quote=A deeply devout man—one who paradoxically described himself as a "Christian atheist" – Bresson, in his attempt in a relatively timeless manner to address good and evil, redemption, the power of love and self-sacrifice, and other such subjects, may seem to us, and perhaps was, something of a retrogression.}}</ref>

In 1973, Bresson explained:

{{blockquote|There is the feeling that God is everywhere, and the more I live, the more I see that in nature, in the country. When I see a tree, I see that God exists. I try to catch and to convey the idea that we have a soul and that the soul is in contact with God. That's the first thing I want to get in my films.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hayman|first1=Ronald|title=Robert Bresson in Conversation|journal=Transatlantic Review|date=Summer 1973|issue=46–47|pages=16–23}}</ref>}}

In a 1976 interview with [[Paul Schrader]], Bresson said that he was concerned by what he saw as "the collapse of the Catholic religion" in France. He did not believe the post-Vatican II Church was capable of responding to this challenge. ''[[The Devil Probably]]'' incorporates some of his criticisms of the post-Vatican II Church. Bresson explained that his youthful protagonist "is looking for something on top of life, but he doesn't find it. He goes to Church to seek it, and he doesn't find it."<ref name=":0" /> In addition, an early scene in the film shows a young Catholic complaining that the post-Vatican II Church "run[s] after Protestants."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Devil, Probably (1977) Movie Script {{!}} Subs like Script |url=https://subslikescript.com/movie/The_Devil_Probably-75938 |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=subslikescript.com}}</ref>

Some feel that Bresson's [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] upbringing and belief system lie behind the thematic structures of most of his films.<ref>[[James Quandt]], ''Robert Bresson'' (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998), 9.</ref> Recurring themes under this interpretation include [[salvation]], [[Redemption (religious)|redemption]], defining and revealing the human [[Soul (spirit)|soul]], and metaphysical transcendence of a limiting and materialistic world. An example is ''[[A Man Escaped]]'' (1956), where a seemingly simple plot of a [[prisoner of war]]'s escape can be read as a [[metaphor]] for the mysterious process of salvation. However, Bresson's films are also critiques of French society and the wider world, with each revealing the director's sympathetic, if unsentimental, view of society's victims. That the main characters of Bresson's most contemporary films, ''[[Le diable probablement|The Devil, Probably]]'' (1977) and {{Lang|fr|[[L'Argent (1983 film)|L'Argent]]}} (1983), reach similarly unsettling conclusions about life indicates the director's feelings towards the culpability of modern society in the dissolution of individuals. Of an earlier protagonist he said, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations."<ref name="Sadoul">{{Cite book |last=Sadoul |first=Georges |url=http://archive.org/details/dictionaryoffil100sado |title=Dictionary of Film Makers |date=1972 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-01864-8 |location=Berkeley, CA |page=228 |language=English |translator-last=Morris |translator-first=Peter}}</ref> Film historian [[Mark Cousins (film critic)|Mark Cousins]] argues that "If [[Ingmar Bergman|Bergman]] and [[Fellini]] filmed life as if it was a theatre and a circus, respectively, Bresson's microcosm was that of a prison", describing Bresson's characters as "psychologically imprisoned".<ref name="The Story of Film">{{cite book |last=Cousins |first=Mark |title=The Story of Film |date=2011 |publisher=Pavilion |isbn=978-1-86205-942-9}}</ref>

Bresson explained that his films often address secular themes because he believed that a secular film with religious undercurrents was more likely to resonate with modern filmgoers than an explicitly religious theme.<ref name=":0" /> [[Susan Sontag]] wrote that in his films, while a "religious vocation supplies one setting for ideas about gravity, lucidity, and martyrdom, ... the drastically secular subjects of crime, the revenge of betrayed love, and solitary imprisonment also yield the same themes."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Sontag |first=Susan |title=Spiritual Style in the Films of Robert Bresson |url=https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/spiritual-style-films-robert-bresson-susan-sontag/ |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=Scraps From The Loft}} (This piece was also published in Sontag's 1966 essay collection ''[[Against Interpretation]]'')</ref> Bresson worried that the new French generation was too materialistic to harbor true religious belief, saying that "every religion is poverty and poverty is the way of having contact with mystery and with God. When Catholicism wants to be materialistic, God is not there." He tried to reach modern audiences indirectly, explaining, "the more life is what it is—ordinary, simple—without pronouncing the word 'God,' the more I see the presence of God in that. ... I don't want to shoot something in which God would be too transparent." In his work, "there is a presence of something which I call God, but I don't want to show it too much. I prefer to make people feel it."<ref name=":0" />

Furthermore, in a 1983 interview for [[Télévision Suisse Romande|TSR]]'s ''Spécial Cinéma'', Bresson declared that he had been interested in making a film based on the [[Book of Genesis]], although he believed such a production would be too costly and time-consuming.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Robert Bresson interview 1 (1983) with english subs |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnFqvRVFENs | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/EnFqvRVFENs| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|time=11:17 |via=[[YouTube]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref>