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Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film

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Cunneen's "Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film" is a good survey of Bresson's filmography. The subheading, however, "A Spiritual Style in Film," is a bit of an an overpromise as Cunneen does not explain what encompasses his understanding of "style" and subordinates the discussion of the truly cinematic, stylistic considerations such as cinematography, editing, lighting in favor of the more literary bases of film such as plot construction and narrative. Moreover, Cunneen borrows heavily from existing work on Bresson and actually devotes more space to summarizing Bresson's body of work rather than the actual analysis of Bresson's unique stylistic signature. A title that reads something like "Bresson: An Introduction" might have been more realistic. Paul Schrader's "A Transcendental Style in Film" offers a more insightful analysis of Bresson's style that lives up to its title. Unlike Cunneen's book, it is, primarily, about cinematic style, not just content analysis.

"Robert Bresson: A Spiritual Style in Film" by Joseph Cunneen is a much-needed introduction to a master film director. Cunneen, long-time movie critic for the "National Catholic Reporter," approaches Bresson's career in a way that easily explains the director's distinctive approach to cinematography.

Bresson rejects the artificiality and dependence of "photographed theater" with it's reliance of star performers and instead emphasizes an austere, elliptical approach to narrative, making a masterful use of natural sound.
Cunneen explores all 13 films of Bresson in chronological order, clarifying the development of Bresson's technique while making clear that his "spiritual style" is why Susan Sontag called him "the master of the reflective model in film."
Easily understood by the novice as well as the movie buff, this book should send readers hunting down Bresson movies in the better video stores, and begging local universities to stage retrospectives of Bresson's entire oeuvre.