Tudo o que é importante é instintivo
[Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne]
Did you and Cocteau agree completely when you were working on the script?
B: You know, Cocteau did very little. I initially wrote all the dialogue myself, retaining as much of Diderot as I could, but inventing the story of the two women whom Helene uses. Their behavior and what happens to them in my film aren't in Diderot. What I needed Cocteau for was to help me blend Diderot's dialogue with my own. This he did magnificently in ten minutes, out of friendship for me. And since he was Cocteau and I was not known as a writer, I asked him to take credit for the dialogue.
S: Actually, as is well known, your adaptation of Diderot changes the spirit of the tale completely. Diderot's story is comic and emphasizes class distinctions. Why did you want to film this if you didn't intend to film it as written?
B: It was my second film, and I needed an adaptation because producers are more difficult about original scripts. I admired the story of Madame de la Pommeraye from Jacques le fataliste because it was well constructed and dramatic, not comic as you seem to think. I merely used his basic situation and much of his dialogue, adding characters, scenes, and so forth to make a film about things that did interest me.
S: Why did you change the period and bring the story up to date?
B: Because I think that costume drama violates the essence of cinema, which is immediacy. The period I was able to change because feelings - unlike clothes - don't change from century to century.
S: You say always that you're a demon for truth, yet this film is obviously stylized.
B: But style goes very well with truth.
S: I find symbolism in this film. Was it deliberate? For example, when Jean comes to ask Helene to arrange a meeting with Agnes, Helene stands in front of the fireplace suppressing her jealousy, but we see it reflected in the raging fire at her side.
B: I don't remember if I meant it that way. I never look for symbolism.
S: Take another instance. Helene is frequently seen in front of mirrors, suggesting what is true: that there are two Helenes, the self she pretends and the one she really is.
B: That wasn't deliberate, but you teach me now what I ought to have done or what I did without realizing it. Because you see, luckily, everything important is instinctive. One mustn't plan every detail in advance. I agree with Valery: One works to surprise oneself.
S: There are many more fades in Diary of a Country Priest than in Les Dames du Bais de Baulogne. Are you deliberate about the number and kind of transitions? In Une Femme douce there are no fades at all.
B: Because more and more I try to be quick. Moreover, to produce a fade in a color film, you have to superimpose one negative over another, and that destroys the quality of the shot. As I have always said, a film is not its shots, but the way they have been joined. As a general once told me, a battle occurs very often at the point where two maps touch.
Charles Thomas Samuels -INTERVIEWS -Robert Bresson, Paris, September 2, 1970
Did you and Cocteau agree completely when you were working on the script?
B: You know, Cocteau did very little. I initially wrote all the dialogue myself, retaining as much of Diderot as I could, but inventing the story of the two women whom Helene uses. Their behavior and what happens to them in my film aren't in Diderot. What I needed Cocteau for was to help me blend Diderot's dialogue with my own. This he did magnificently in ten minutes, out of friendship for me. And since he was Cocteau and I was not known as a writer, I asked him to take credit for the dialogue.
S: Actually, as is well known, your adaptation of Diderot changes the spirit of the tale completely. Diderot's story is comic and emphasizes class distinctions. Why did you want to film this if you didn't intend to film it as written?
B: It was my second film, and I needed an adaptation because producers are more difficult about original scripts. I admired the story of Madame de la Pommeraye from Jacques le fataliste because it was well constructed and dramatic, not comic as you seem to think. I merely used his basic situation and much of his dialogue, adding characters, scenes, and so forth to make a film about things that did interest me.
S: Why did you change the period and bring the story up to date?
B: Because I think that costume drama violates the essence of cinema, which is immediacy. The period I was able to change because feelings - unlike clothes - don't change from century to century.
S: You say always that you're a demon for truth, yet this film is obviously stylized.
B: But style goes very well with truth.
S: I find symbolism in this film. Was it deliberate? For example, when Jean comes to ask Helene to arrange a meeting with Agnes, Helene stands in front of the fireplace suppressing her jealousy, but we see it reflected in the raging fire at her side.
B: I don't remember if I meant it that way. I never look for symbolism.
S: Take another instance. Helene is frequently seen in front of mirrors, suggesting what is true: that there are two Helenes, the self she pretends and the one she really is.
B: That wasn't deliberate, but you teach me now what I ought to have done or what I did without realizing it. Because you see, luckily, everything important is instinctive. One mustn't plan every detail in advance. I agree with Valery: One works to surprise oneself.
S: There are many more fades in Diary of a Country Priest than in Les Dames du Bais de Baulogne. Are you deliberate about the number and kind of transitions? In Une Femme douce there are no fades at all.
B: Because more and more I try to be quick. Moreover, to produce a fade in a color film, you have to superimpose one negative over another, and that destroys the quality of the shot. As I have always said, a film is not its shots, but the way they have been joined. As a general once told me, a battle occurs very often at the point where two maps touch.
Charles Thomas Samuels -INTERVIEWS -Robert Bresson, Paris, September 2, 1970
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