L' Argent

Starring:Christian Patey, Vincent Risterucci, Caroline Lang, Sylvie Van den Elsen, BÃ©atrice Tabourin, Didier Baussy, Marc Ernest Fourneau, Bruno Lapeyre, FranÃ§ois-Marie Banier, Alain Aptekman, Jeanne Aptekman, Dominique Mullier, Jacques Behr, Gilles Durieux, Alain Bourguignon, AndrÃ© Cler, Claude Cler, Anne de KervazdouÃ©, Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Pierre Tessier
Director: Robert Bresson
Studio: New Yorker Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Robert Bresson always claimed his films are about hope and redemption, but so many end in death or suicide that it's a struggle to reconcile the statement with his films. His final film, based on Leo Tolstoy's story The Counterfeit Note, is no different. It's the harrowing tale of an innocent man, Yvon (Christian Patey), whose victimization at the hands of an arrogant upper-class delinquent and a greedy shop owner sends him on a downward spiral into a life of crime. The once-happy husband and father turns bitter, angry, self-pitying, and ultimately coldly brutal in the chilling conclusion. It's Bresson's most expansive film and biggest canvas, weaving the paths of numerous characters across Yvon's journey, but he edits with jackrabbit jumps, running headlong through the story with a painful feeling of inevitability. On its simplest level, Yvon's story is an elaborate chain of cause and effect, the ripples of a selfish act resulting in the fall of a proud man and the destruction of his soul, and Bresson presents every link in that chain with precise, cold clarity. There is little hope evidenced in L'Argent, but there is powerful sense of loss and sadness in this portrait of a society so obsessed with money that it loses its humanity. --Sean Axmaker
Description
Robert Bresson's final masterpiece, L'Argent is a stunning protest against greed and corruption. A boy's parents refuse to lend him money, so a friend gives him a counterfeit 500-franc bill. This one act sets into motion a chain of events that will lead to murder.

The bill passes from hand to hand, and with each exchange comes another betrayal. To protect themselves, shopkeepers pass the bill on to an unsuspecting delivery man, Yvon, who is arrested and sent to prison. Rejecting the world that ruined him, Yvon turns to crime and destruction.

Inspired by a Tolstoy story, one of cinema's great masters creates a powerful tale of innocence corrupted.

Amazon.com

Robert Bresson always claimed his films are about hope and redemption, but so many end in death or suicide that it's a struggle to reconcile the statement with his films. His final film, based on Leo Tolstoy's story The Counterfeit Note, is no different. It's the harrowing tale of an innocent man, Yvon (Christian Patey), whose victimization at the hands of an arrogant upper-class delinquent and a greedy shop owner sends him on a downward spiral into a life of crime. The once-happy husband and father turns bitter, angry, self-pitying, and ultimately coldly brutal in the chilling conclusion. It's Bresson's most expansive film and biggest canvas, weaving the paths of numerous characters across Yvon's journey, but he edits with jackrabbit jumps, running headlong through the story with a painful feeling of inevitability. On its simplest level, Yvon's story is an elaborate chain of cause and effect, the ripples of a selfish act resulting in the fall of a proud man and the destruction of his soul, and Bresson presents every link in that chain with precise, cold clarity. There is little hope evidenced in L'Argent, but there is powerful sense of loss and sadness in this portrait of a society so obsessed with money that it loses its humanity. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Robert Bresson's final masterpiece, L'Argent is a stunning protest against greed and corruption. A boy's parents refuse to lend him money, so a friend gives him a counterfeit 500-franc bill. This one act sets into motion a chain of events that will lead to murder.

Inspired by a Tolstoy story, one of cinema's great masters creates a powerful tale of innocence corrupted.

Customer Reviews:

A short but swift finale from Bresson........2007-03-20

Robert Bresson's last film if a very short 81 minutes, and has to do with a chain of events two young boys start when they cash in a counterfeit bank note at a photography shop. What follows is less of a tale about greed and money, and more of a tale about how a little deceit can go a long way, and much further than anyone would ever expect. The main character is the unsuspecting delivery person, who happens to come by the photo shop to collect payment for his services, and gets unknowlingly handed the boy's fake bill by the shop owner, plus two other forged bills he had received on a previous occasion. This sets off a chain of events and turns the life upside down of one innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time. It also turns into a tale of how focused on revenge this once innocent person gets.

The pacing is very swift and direct, leaving no time along the way to console or relate to characters or their actions, until long after the images have passed. The viewer is thrust into an in your face storyline, with lethargic characters, merely walking their way through the events that take place. It almost plays out like one of the many cable true crime reenactment shows, rather than a film.

Unlike Truffaut or Chabrol, Bresson wastes no time in getting deep into anyone's thoughts or taking any time for character development. In my opinion, the drawback to this being that we can never fully sympathize with the unfortunate turn of events that strike down our main character. I mean "fully" with emphasis, as don't get me wrong, what happens to the Yvon character is truly an upsetting turn of events. The flipside to this, is what I feel is a benefit of having wooden, undeveloped characters: we can sit back and watch these dreadful situations at more of an entertainment level than most other pessimistic and dreary storylines.

There are so many instances in this film that either require a second viewing, or just some simple reflection and a little puzzle solving to bind together everything that just took place. I have fully understood and enjoyed every aspect and unbound ties left open ended by Bresson, except for the immediate ending. I still have yet to discern why the crowd continues to look in the direction that Yvon had just come from, without anyone turning their head as he passes by. It's the only piece have yet to figure out. I've even realized exactly why Yvon actually turns to violence in the end, which has to do with him saying in jail that he will see the character that is partially responsible for him landing in prison again, even though he has been moved to a maximum security facility. Another aspect that you really have to uncover yourself, as there are no narratives or the usual crime tips and discoveries usually found in this film genre.

A truly memorable French movie, and one enhanced by the stunning widescreeen and sharp transfer from New Yorker Films. It's a shame it just went out of print. There are also some very interesting insights into Bresson's mind in the 2 interviews. Well worth every penny.

On greed and corruption.......2006-10-11

Last film by acclaimed French director Robert Bresson. In color. 1hour and 20 minutes.

This film is very different, at first glance, from other Bresson classics. The pace is very fast (specially the first half), the streets of Paris in all its rush and chaos. The insides of homes and shops are remnants of peace and soberness (only apparently), trying to protect from the "evil" outside. The characters are practically all young people, lost souls, and for a reason: "they lack the inner resources necessary to make the kind of leap that 'Pickpocket's Michel or 'A Man Escaped's Fontaine makes. They lack sufficient experience to understand that one can have faith in something other than such paltry, man-made creations as "progress" and money."

Those were the words of essayist Kent Jones in the case insert.

The second half of the film moves to a more rural setting. The pace slows down. We meet a very noteworthy character. A woman with faith, lots of faith. In one scene they share a few moments of peace and give the film more meaning than I can try to explain with my limited English vocabulary. But it's the climax, and then comes the tragedy, which is like the final statement of the author, Bresson.

I didn't like the film as much as "Diary of a country priest", and way less than "Au Hazard Balthasar", maybe because of its pessimistic taste, the lack of hope. Probably I don't like it that much because, simply put, modernity is ugly. And postmodernity is infinitely more so.

But faith, hope and love are never in vain for those who love God, and belief in the resurrection of His Son Jesus.

Bresson's greatest work..........2006-05-07

This is Bresson's greatest, and last, work. It is a work from a true cinematic auteur. No one made films like Bresson did, and I don't think anyone ever will. This film is based on a short story by Tolstoy entitled The Forged Coupon (aka The Forged Note), except Tolstoy's story is much different that Bresson's take here. It is about how a forged note of 500 francs passes from one hand to another, ruining the life of a fuel oil delivery man. Bresson made this film when he was 82, but you couldn't tell that it was made by a man that old. Quite often, critics assume that filmmakers (and artists in general) have nothing to say as they get older. On the contrary. They have even more to say. A real artist's vision deepens as they grow older. Kurosawa made Ran at 75, and Eastwood made Million Dollar Baby at 74. Those are their best films. Bresson is rather feisty and combative (which is a good thing) in the interviews presented here. He doesn't mince words, and he doesn't seem interested in doing the usual inane questions that featurettes on DVD's usually have from bubble headed reporters (even though these were shot for French TV, not Entertainment Tonight). He has something to say. This is my favorite film of his (even though Lancelot of the Lake and Au Hasard Balthazar are close behind). Sadly, he never made another one after this, but the 13 he did make are all brilliant. Not one bad one. Great film, great man...

For Want of a Nail the World Blew Up.......2006-01-18

I recently purchased L'Argent having read a few positive things about the movie. It is the story of greed run amuck. One spoiled brat passes a conferfeit French equivilent of a $100 bill and the misfortune that ensues affects many innocent people. The movie does an outstanding job of portraying the people involved and that has the effect of drawing both towards and away from the various characters. Some we will perceive as innocent and some as guilty as I think director Robert Bresson intended. This lesson in morality works well until Bresson takes a leap too far in making his point. Before we reach that extreme, however, we are convincingly reminded that innocence is not always rewared nor is guilt always punished. Bresson goes beyond that to such lessons as the poor being always at a disadvantage in court when challenging the rich and that love often doesn't conquer much of anything. Various characters end up in jail while other lose in other ways.

In regards to the end, I will give nothing away (I hope) but I feel the need to complain about the excessive conclusion that Bresson seems to want us to end up with. An innocent victim suffers one setback after another and he has our sympathy. However, what gets passed along from his hands to others is in no way a logical next step as the director would have us believe. Maybe others might think so. However, for me this leap of logic ruined the film's message. To paraphrase Cornelius Ryan, this was a misfortune too far.

A Mournful Tale.......2005-11-02

Bresson has made some unparallelled films over a great part of the twentieth century. 'Balthasar' and 'Diary of A Country Priest', are right up there with my all time favourites. Friends try to convince me that 'Lancelot'(his excurison into colour) and,'L'Argent' are classics too. I can't agree. The narrative here is quite simple and the morality, so stripped back that it it feels like a Sunday School lesson.Even in 'Lancelot', where the acting was bereft of emoting, there was some degree of intimacy, that facilitated connections for me. Here, the characters are rendered as automatons, which is clearly part of Bresson's intention, but makes for some unreal, de-animated cause and effect. Interersting tale, artful photography, a bleak and discomforting fable. I wouldn't race out to catch this one, nor judge his contributions to cinema on the strength of it. He is undoubtedly in the Bunuel,Bergman, Dreyer, Tarkovsky,Kurosowa league.

Love, Money, Love (L'Amour, l'argent, l'amour) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Germany ]

Average customer rating:

Love, Money, Love (L'Amour, l'argent, l'amour) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Germany ]
Director: Philip Gröning
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000GBN1G8

Product Description

Germany released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: German (Dolby Digital 5.1), German (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SYNOPSIS: David, a recently fired scrapyard worker and Marie, a prostitute, both about 20 years old, meet on New Year's Eve in Berlin and decide to run away together. As David's arm is plastered from an accident Marie continues to prostitute herself to finance their restless journey through the Ruhr area. Their love and their will to survive guide them though all problems. SPECIAL FEATURES: Alternative Footage, Behind the scenes, Biographies, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Production Notes, Short Film, Trailer(s),

Average customer rating:

L'argent
Starring: L'argent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

La Famille Berenstain - L'Anniversaire de Leon/Estimez-vous heureux/Le double defi/Petit problem avec l'argent

Average customer rating:

La Famille Berenstain - L'Anniversaire de Leon/Estimez-vous heureux/Le double defi/Petit problem avec l'argent

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

-L'Anniversaire de Leon -Estimez-vous heureux -Le double defi -Petit problem avec l'argent

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