"Actor: Jean Claude Guilbert"

• Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) | Blu Ray | (29/04/2019) from £21.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Bresson achieves the pinnacle of his art in the tale of a gentle creature's journey through a cruel world. A profound masterpiece from one of the most revered filmmakers in the history of cinema, Au hasard Balthazar, directed by Robert Bresson (Pickpocket), follows the donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations outside of his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie, is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly. Through Bresson's unconventional approach to composition, sound, and narrative, this simple story becomes a moving parable about purity and transcendence. Special Edition Features: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Interview from 2005 with film scholar Donald Richie Un metteur en ordre: Robert Bresson, a 1966 French television programme about the film, featuring Bresson, filmmakers JeanLuc Godard and Louis Malle, and members of Balthazar's cast and crew Original theatrical trailer Plus: An essay by film scholar James Quandt

• Mouchette (1967) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (14/12/2020) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  ROBERT BRESSON (Au hasard Balthazar) plumbs great reservoirs of feeling with Mouchette, one of the most searing portraits of human desperation ever put on film. With a dying mother, an absent, alcoholic father, and a baby brother in need of care, the teenage Mouchette seeks solace and respite from her circumstances in the nature of the French countryside and daily routine. Bresson deploys his trademark minimalist style to heartbreaking effect in this essential work of French filmmaking, a hugely empathetic drama that elevates its trapped protagonist into one of the cinema's most memorable tragic figures. Special Features: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary from 2006 by film scholar, critic, and festival programmer Tony Rayns Au hasard Bresson, a 1967 documentary by Theodor Kotulla, featuring director Robert Bresson on the set of Mouchette Segment of a 1967 episode of the French television series Cinéma, featuring on-set interviews with Bresson and actors Nadine Nortier and Jean-Claude Guilbert Original theatrical trailer, cut by Jean-Luc Godard PLUS: An essay by critic and poet Robert Polito

• Mouchette | Blu Ray | (10/03/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Perhaps the most accessible of Robert Bresson's films, this story of a 14-year-old schoolgirl at the mercy of the world around her is like a melodrama stripped of flourish. Mouchette is an angry adolescent in the French provinces, the daughter of a drunken bootlegger and a dying, bedridden mother, a pariah in school and a figure of village gossip. She rebels in typically adolescent ways, lobbing mud at teasing classmates and defying wagging tongues with a wilful stare, but her deep pain and loneliness pour from her hollow, sad eyes. There's no sentimentality in Bresson's portrait of village life but for a few brief moments the film explodes with energy and emotion. Mouchette rides the bumper cars at a local fair, flirting with a young boy in loving bumps and deliberate rams, and her dour expression flowers in a smile as the fairground speakers blare a rock & roll tune... until her father's heavy hand slaps her back to reality. It's a moment unlike any other in a Bresson film, a joyous reprieve from the monotony of her life, but if the rest of her existence is glum and hopeless, the film is unexpectedly beautiful. The style is often fragmented--the film opens on a stunning play of hands, feet and spying eyes as poacher and police both wait for their prey--but the beauty of the forests and meadows creates an idyllic naturalism that leavens Bresson's harsh portrait of the human condition. --Sean Axmaker

• Mouchette | DVD | (26/08/2013) from £10.78   |  Saving you £5.21 (32.60%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Mouchette is one of Robert Bresson’s greatest cinematic achievements, plumbing immense emotional depths in a searing, heartbreaking portrait of human frailty. Hemmed in by a dying mother, an alcoholic father and a baby brother in need of care, the adolescent Mouchette searches for sanctuary in nature and domestic chores. As the delicate intricacies of her life are played out a touching, tender and tragic portrait is painted, making her of one of cinema’s most memorable tragic heroines. An essential piece of classic French filmmaking.

• Mouchette | DVD | (22/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Perhaps the most accessible of Robert Bresson's films, this story of a 14-year-old schoolgirl at the mercy of the world around her is like a melodrama stripped of flourish. Mouchette is an angry adolescent in the French provinces, the daughter of a drunken bootlegger and a dying, bedridden mother, a pariah in school and a figure of village gossip. She rebels in typically adolescent ways, lobbing mud at teasing classmates and defying wagging tongues with a wilful stare, but her deep pain and loneliness pour from her hollow, sad eyes. There's no sentimentality in Bresson's portrait of village life but for a few brief moments the film explodes with energy and emotion. Mouchette rides the bumper cars at a local fair, flirting with a young boy in loving bumps and deliberate rams, and her dour expression flowers in a smile as the fairground speakers blare a rock & roll tune... until her father's heavy hand slaps her back to reality. It's a moment unlike any other in a Bresson film, a joyous reprieve from the monotony of her life, but if the rest of her existence is glum and hopeless, the film is unexpectedly beautiful. The style is often fragmented--the film opens on a stunning play of hands, feet and spying eyes as poacher and police both wait for their prey--but the beauty of the forests and meadows creates an idyllic naturalism that leavens Bresson's harsh portrait of the human condition. --Sean Axmaker