Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945), Robert Bresson.



"On the other hand, just notice how stark this film can be when it comes to its climax, the moment at which Hélène reveals her subterfuge and her malice and Paul is overwhelmed by it. The entire scene is kept fiercely confined. Paul’s car cannot quite escape from the grisly marriage—for Hélène cuts off his escape. There is then a superb, distilled set-up, seen from one side of Paul’s car, looking out through the far window at the balefully triumphant Hélène. Again, Paul tries to escape, he maneuvers his car but he keeps coming back to the same bleak confrontation. This happens several times, with a dreadful sense of claustrophobia, of nightmare even. An Ophuls, a Michael Curtiz, would have flung the camera, the cars, the stars, and the music around—think of Lana Turner cracking up in her car in The Bad and the Beautiful. But already, in 1944, the sensualist in Bresson has seen the power in distillation, enclosure, and a simplification that might become habit. The sound of the car’s engine, the frantic moves, and the implacable composition are all working towards a greater concentration still. In other words, the idea of being morally trapped or confined—of imprisonment—is coming to the surface". David Thomson