Robert Bresson, Notes On Cinematography

Also known as Notes On The Cinematographer (which is, by the way, the right translation to the original title ‘Notes Sur Le Cinématographe), this brief volume by french director Robert Bresson (Au Hasard Balthazar, Pickpocket, Diary Of A Country Priest..) collects his beliefs on the art of cinematography. Bresson’s point of view is obviously very strict, severe and vastly philosophical; this book is also a profound meditation on theatre, art and human emotions. Sometimes i feel like i don’t agree with his opinions, some other times i simply don’t understand them but maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be..in the end, these were his own thoughts based on his own unique philosophy. Anyway, it’s a simultaneously cryptic and crystal clear journey inside the mind of one of the most peculiar directors in the history of cinema.

Here’s some of my favorite quotes from the book:

‘Be sure of having used to the full all that is communicated by immobility and silence’

‘The soundtrack invented silence’

‘The noises must become music’

‘Bring together things that have as yet never been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so’

‘The eye (in general) superficial, the ear profound and inventive. A locomotive’s whistle imprints on us a whole railroad station’

‘Quantity, enormity, falsity of means yielding place to simplicity and rightness. Everything brought back to what suffices you’