Lancelot of the Lake

Puzzling (in a good way). Bresson's style is, as usual, almost immediately off-putting. The viewer struggles to figure out his directorial choices (often coming up empty-handed). Why on Earth would you show the famous jousting tournament (where Lancelot arrives in disguise) with the camera aimed only at the horses' midsections (that is, missing the jousting action entirely)? Non-professional actors speak their lines expressionlessly and the King Arthur legend as we know it has been shorn of most of its action. Instead, Bresson focuses in on Lancelot's predicament - his adultery with Guinivere conflicts with his loyalty to Arthur and his vow to God to end it. The persistence of this illicit affair brings the couple into conflict with Mordred and other knights but Bresson asks us to infer any deeper psychology ourselves from the surfaces he depicts. Yet the film is not boring. The medieval setting is wrought simply but effectively and the soundtrack is a wonder (with offscreen horses neighing and suits of armor clanking at what must be carefully timed moments). Whether Lancelot achieves salvation through suffering (a perennial theme for Bresson) is another mystery that the viewer can ponder. Figuring things out (or failing to do so) is half the fun.

I don't know how well Bresson's style worked with the material, but I do know that it had beautiful photography and period sets.

Robert Bresson's low-budget attempt to de-romanticize the King Arthur myth has no romance, no gallantry, no smiles, almost no score and just a smidge of what might be called "acting." Instead, the film is mostly about Bresson's strange obsession with incidental sound. Lasting impressions of this film are not about dialogue or plot, but rather rattling armor and listless, unnaturally loud footsteps trudging across forest duff and castle floors. Not exactly compelling. Violence usually occurs off-camera, though the bloody opening minutes can't help but evoke Monty Python & the Holy Grail's notorious "only a flesh wound" scene. The homely, untrained cast is just another way to rob the viewer of any easy pleasures. The story itself skips all the glories of Arthur's court and picks up after the failed search for the Grail, so the mood is nothing but bleak. Approach at your own risk, and don't bother bringing a shrubbery.

Returning empty handed in his two-year search for the Holy Grail after having made a wrong turn somewhere, Lancelot(Luc Simon) is given a warm welcome back from King Arthur(Vladimir Antolek-Oresek). Mordred(Patrick Bernhard) emerges from the shadows just long enough to remind everybody that he told them so, before slinking back to his hole. All Queen Guinevere(Laura Duke Condominas) wants to know is why her knight, Lancelot, is not wearing her ring anymore. To start, "Lancelot of the Lake" takes an intriguing approach to violence, with the only graphic detail in its opening sequence(if it looks familiar, it should be pointed out that "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was made the following year), before pretty much avoiding it for the rest of the film, which speaks volumes to the knights' worthiness, considering their history of bloodshed and pillaging. This film is set during the downward slide of Arthur's rule, as he has no wish to replace any fallen knights. Otherwise, the movie can be talky, focusing more on relationships, which confirms the eternal power of this venerable tale.

Easily the strangest Arthurian film ever made, done in Bresson's unique, deliberately paced style of never pointing the camera in the obvious direction (call it the Downcast Camera Style). The film achieves some amazing effects--Lancelot's jousting, for one, is deconsctructed to the point that it reinforces the superhuman quality of his achievements. And the ending is bizarre beyond belief, equating the fall of Camelot with the end of all civiliztion (and for all I know, Bresson was right). A great film.

Once again we learn to never, never, let women into the clubhouse. Guys! Come on.

Perfect like most Bresson

One of the best Arthurian films I've seen, full of power and mystery.

Robert Bresson made a handful of great films, but few of them are as mesmerizing as this, his take on King Arthur and his Round Table. As Kubrick would do one year later with 'Barry Lyndon', Bresson here strips this story down to its bare reality and captures several so-called legends at their most vulnerable. What's so remarkable about the film is how much of a mess the narrative is. Everyone walks around without a clue about what comes next; people make decisions, change their minds, change their minds again; mistakes are made, backs are stabbed, regrets are had. As he always did so well, Bresson captures the most seemingly insignificant moments and brings them to our attention. While knights lance in a tournament, we are permitted only to watch their horses' feet. We rarely see the front of Lancelot's face (played with admirable nothingness by Luc Simon), so that when we are allowed a glance it is foreign and intriguing to us. In fact, while cinema in general has desensitized us to the power a face can have, Bresson reintroduces it in all of his films as something much more expressionistic than any man-made art form. In this way the film is indescribably exciting. To watch it is to rediscover a familiar story in a much more organically accessible and interesting way.

Rating: 3.4/5. Another, not so good film by Bresson. I think it lacks in depth and plot. It is mostly predictable, and static. Did not really like anything in this film, except Bresson's camera frequently showing the waist and below of actors, which I find interesting.