Directed by Robert Bresson • 1971 • France, Italy
Starring Isabelle Weingarten, Guillaume des Forêts, Jean-Maurice Monnoyer
FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER is Robert Bresson’s great forgotten masterpiece, a stark yet haunting ode to romantic idealism and the capriciousness of love. Adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “White Nights,” the film follows Jacques (Guillaume des Forêts), a lonely artist who roams bohemian Paris in search of the girl of his dreams. One night he saves a beautiful young woman, Marthe (Isabelle Weingarten), from plunging into the Seine in despair over her rejection by an avoidant lover (Jean-Maurice Monnoyer). Jacques compassionately attempts to reunite Marthe with her beau, but his feelings for his new friend soon become less than platonic and his investment in her personal drama far from selfless. FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER has been called the French master’s “loveliest” work: with his signature minimalism, Bresson films the shimmering beauty of nocturnal Paris as it enfolds his characters in endless possibility—subtly capturing the wonder of unexpected connection and the mystery of fate.
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Les dames du Bois de Boulogne
Directed by Robert Bresson • 1945 • France
Starring Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina LabourdetteThis unique love story, based on a novelette by Denis Diderot and with dialogue written by Jean Cocteau, follows the maneuverings of a society lady as she connives to initiate a scandalous affair b...
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A Man Escaped
Directed by Robert Bresson • 1956 • France
Starring François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice BeerblockWith the simplest of concepts and sparest of techniques, Robert Bresson made one of the most suspenseful jailbreak films of all time in A MAN ESCAPED. Based on the account of an impriso...
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Pickpocket
Directed by Robert Bresson • 1959 • France
Starring Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Pierre LeymarieThis incomparable story of crime and redemption from the French master Robert Bresson follows Michel, a young pickpocket who spends his days working the streets, subway cars, and train stations of P...
