In the need of easy money, Norbert, a young teenager, gets a counterfeit 500 franc note from his friend. He spends it at a camera store, dooping the owner into accepting the fake currency. Not wanting to hurt the bottom line, the shop keeper passes on the counterfeit currency to Yvon, an honest delivery man, who has no idea he has just been paid in fake money. Grabbing a bite to eat, Yvon is arrested for using the fake money, with any attempt to assign the blame to the camera store falling on deft ears. Being arrested causes Yvon to lose his job, and as desperation grows he agrees to become a getaway car driver in an effort to support his family. The heist is foiled by the police, sending Yvon to jail for three years. Robert Bresson's L'Argent is a challenging yet rewarding film whicch clinically deconstructs the effects of money on our society. Bresson's last film is designed in a way that is sure to alienate viewers, using fragmented space to great effect, especially towards the end of the film. Intentionally cold, Bresson routinely fragments the image, reluctant to show the characters faces or emotions, which in turn forces the viewer to us their imagination to decipher these character's actions. Bresson is not a filmmaker known for his social ideas but L'Argent certainly focuses on the power of money, with the framing routinely focuses on the monetary exchanges throughout the film. Bresson's film feels more spiritual than social, with L'Argent capturing how money itself can strip away our humanity directly and indirectly. Nothing feels forced in L'Argent, with Bresson simply using his clinical visual eye and poetic storytelling to capture the cost of money. L'Argent is a dense film that certainly requires multiple viewings, but what the film says about the cost of money and how it can so easily transform us, is truly special.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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