Lancelot of the Lake
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Movie Reviews of Lancelot of the Lake
Movie Review: Another gem of the master of masters!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bresson once more offers us his particular gaze about the Legend of The King Arthur and the Holly grial.The script is a journey to explore without restrictions a bitter sight to the decline , the decadence and the loss of the epic sense of the life , majesty and the deep hole of uncertainity and dissapointment around the values that once were .
The tale is always permeated of a dark poetry . The images don't reflect the state of the honor . You only watch the loyalty from a perverse angle.
Watch for instance the glorious and countless sequences in which we never see the horses' faces . Bresson employed that smart device in previous films like Joan of Arc , for instance , in which we never see the faces of the executioners or A man escapes where the nazi officers faces are always hidden in a clever mix of blame and betray .
The film is loaded with countless poetic images and a clear resources economy. Bresson is concerned more in what we must imagine that in what we can see. He introduces us in a mythical journey , but at last with the fall of the last warrior and the unforgettable and awful sequence of the iron skeletons make useless any word , and the powerful images talk by themselves.
Bresson employs the words in the its exact meaning ; he avoids long speechs ; he goes to the images , whose expresiveness go far beyond any kind of language.
With the glorious exception of Andrei Tarkovsky no other film maker has employed so wisely the visual language to express with such deepness and beauty the powerful of his message.
The meaning value of the genius is that he's like anyone , but anyone is like him.
Movie Review: An intriguing, pessimistic tale by Robert Bresson, though not entirely successful
Summary: 4 Stars
What to make of this movie? Blood squirts and drips from severed heads and sliced groins like thick cherry juice. Lancelot says "J'taime' to Guinevere with all the passion of a piece of cheese. As in most of Bresson's films, the acting is expressionless, but here it is emotionless. "You are alone in your pride," says Guinevere to Lancelot, while she stares at him without a trace of feeling. "Pride in what is not yours is a falsehood." "I was to bring back the Grail," he tells her. "It was not the Grail," she says, "it was God you all wanted. God is no trophy to bring home. You were all implacable. You killed, pillaged, burned. Then you turned blindly on each other. Now you blame our love for this disaster...I do not ask to love you. Is it my fault I cannot live without you? I do not live for Arthur." Guinevere is austere and relentless. And Lancelot? "Poor Lancelot," one character says, "trying to stand his ground in a shrinking world."
It's been two years since Arthur sent his knights on a quest for the Holy Grail. Now, exhausted, defeated, at odds with each other, their numbers severely reduced by disease and fighting, the remnants have returned. Lancelot saw in a dream that he must renounce his love for Arthur's queen, but Guinevere will have none of that. Mordred lurks in the shadows, hinting and insinuating. Before long, the knights have chosen sides. A few will stand with Lancelot in defense of Guinevere. The rest will stand...not with Arthur, but with Mordred.
Bresson has taken the Arthurian legend and turned it into a tale of hopeless pessimism. If you don't care for spoilers, read no further. How hopeless? Nearly everyone dies except Guinevere. There is no Robert Goulet in paper mache armor singing "If Ever I Should Leave You," no Nicol Williamson urging Arthur to do the right thing. It's difficult to say who is the more pig-headed...Guinevere for adamantly refusing to release Lancelot from his vows of love, or Lancelot later deciding that love is all. By the time they realize that Guinevere must return to Arthur, it's far too late.
The legend of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, and of Mordred and Gawain, is emotional and powerful. Bresson takes it and squeezes it down until it is nearly wrung dry. Loyalties are as much based on self-interest and delusion as on true fealty. Love is as selfish as it is consuming. There's no room for hope, or even noble tragedy, in Bresson's version of the myth. Making the movie even more difficult to access is the Bresson style. Even in the most charged moments, the characters speak in a monotone. Bresson's penchant for amateurs and a flat style of delivery can work wonders in some of his movies (just look at Au Hasard Balthazar), but here everything is just flat. The photography is fascinating -- particularly the tournament sequence; all close-ups of the sides of galloping horses, just the legs of the knights, the sound of lances crashing into armor -- but it also is self-conscious. More than once I caught myself thinking, "Wow, this shot is sure pure Bresson." That may do much for cineastes appreciating an auteur director; I'm not sure it does much, in this case, to advance the emotions of the story. And yet, the film picks up a lot of steam. The last half hour is a beautiful, powerful picture of pointlessness. Mordred and his followers are going to usurp Arthur. Lancelot and his followers will ride for Arthur. And we see a shot of a riderless horse galloping through the forest, then a cut to a knight on the ground bleeding to death, then yeoman in trees firing arrows, then the sequence again, and again, and again. No music, just the twang of arrows, the sound of hooves, the muted clanking of armor. And then we see a pile of dead and dying knights. There's no winsome little boy to carry the tale of Camelot this time.
On balance, I enjoyed the pessimism, the rhythm of the movie and some of the sequences. The film is worth seeing, but I just don't think this is one of Bresson's successes. The DVD has a fairly good film transfer. There are no extras.
Movie Review: a very purposeful film
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Bresson is one of the most methodic directors of French cinema. In a way like Godard, you will either love his movies or find them a bit too intellectual - sometimes lacking the qualities that make us just sit back and enjoy. I found that I both love and hate his version of the Arthurian legend. At times the claustrophobia of the camera work is very effective - at other times it makes it very absurd. One thing is for sure, there are shades of genius in this film, the shots in the forest, in particular, bring some very relieving shades of green in the film. You also do get a sense of what the characters are wrestling with inside - and it is a very disturbing portrait, to be sure. Though I rate most of Bresson's previous work 5 stars - I think for now I will rate this 4 - but I still would like to watch it again to see what other impressions I get from it.Movie Review: No, sir...
Summary: 2 Stars
I don't think this is the worst film ever - but it comes close. I think R. Bresson is one of the greatest filmmakers ever - "The Pickpocet" is one of my favorite films - Joan of Arc is also very good. I also do love many of the "artiest" movies made, like Solaris,Stalker and The mirror by Tarkovskij or the Orpheus movies by Jean Cocteau.
But this was simply a disaster. I give it two stars for a partly interesting dialogue. But no - it will not stay with me forever, I hope.
Movie Review: Pretentious Rubbish
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm not sure what to make of the reviews in praise of this film. They reviewers are clearly not fans of Arthurian mythos or historical films either. Where they talk about understatement, minimalist approach or stripping the storyline down... I see only poor plotting, poor writing, bad direction and cynicism. There's room in Arthurian Mythos for chivalry to sit quite comfortably alongside anti-war, new age and early feminist messages but the Director fails to take advantage of this.
The action is atrocious. We have monty pythonesque blood spurting scenes and zero fight choreography - we might as well have been watching Ator the Fighting Eagle for all its authenticity. The armour clanks around uncomfortably on their gaunt frames - cuisses worn directly over tights (I pity the poor actors) and helmets worn without straps, padding or gorgets.
The acting is not so much restrained as wooden. On occassion we get a glimpse of emotion out of Guinevere but she seems emotionally worn out. The writing for Lancelot indicates that his character is self-involved and arrogant, but the actor appears simply bored with the role and never shows anything resembling the frustration and anger that Lancelot must be feeling. Gawain is the only decent character in this mess and contrary to legend, he manages to get killed by Lancelot whilst avenging his brother.
Then there's the endless shots of people arming and disarming - shooting sequentially what should have been simultaneous. Not to mention the raucus bird cries, the incessant horse neighing, the truly awful musette (and I love bagpipes...), the local peasant actors (they look like Bretons), the gaudy pink and orange saddles, the castles without gates, the lack of characterisation and the linear plot.
It all combines to make this the greatest waste of money I've ever spent. I'd rather have picked up a copy of Dungeons and Dragons the movie. If I could give it zero stars I would.
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