Original subtitles

Let's go.

Once more.

AU HASARD BRESSON

Quick, Marine! You're late. Action!

That's no good.

1943 ANGELS OF THE STREETS

1944 THE LADIES OF THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE

1950 DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST

1956 A MAN ESCAPED

1962 TRIAL OF JOAN OF ARC

Go ahead. It keeps them together.

Go on. Once more.

Action.

- That's good. - That's not what you wanted.

Yes, it is.

Do it again.

Quickly.

Ready?

Action.

Faster! No, sir!

The boy's over there. You turn your head and go that way.

I always like to see and hear the film before I shoot it,

to come up with things by working on my own,

things from my memory or imagination,

even if I don't end up filming them.

They're often things I can't come up with on set,

so I believe it's important to create a solid groundwork,

a set of constraints

within which the film will take shape.

Because I'm aware of these constraints,

I can ask my nonprofessional actors to surprise me:

unlimited surprises but within a limited context.

Also, you must be constantly alert

to seize new ideas on the spot,

things you'd never think of,

born from the novelty

of an unfamiliar character

set loose in an unfamiliar context.

New and unpredictable things are bound to happen.

I'm totally opposed to directors who storyboard everything

or ask actors to follow a script to the letter.

You must allow yourself to be surprised.

He discovered her at the pool.

He liked the fact she was petite and slim,

and he asked her age.

Since it's difficult to find a girl who looks very young,

because they grow up so fast now,

he thought she was perfect.

But it did cause some trouble.

An inspector came around to check her papers,

because the magazine Match wrote

that she was just 14.

So an inspector came to check her ID

to make sure she was old enough to be out of school.

It's absolutely forbidden to hire minors...

without proper authorization.

Here we need to feel you're hiding them.

If you put them here, we lose that.

Remember where the camera is and don't block it,

except when you move this way. Then you block it on purpose.

It's revealed at the last minute when he exits holding the crate.

Don't block him.

Go ahead.

Light the inside so I see both of them.

Once more. Very good.

No, don't do that.

Stay there, like that.

Okay, pick the bottles up again.

Move aside, please. We can't light it right.

First of all, for 10 years

Bernanos's heirs had been asking me to make this film.

Secondly, and most importantly...

I wanted to make a film this year

but I was short on time,

so I was really pleased to have something already written

because I had no time to write.

And I liked the fact it wasn't psychology in literary form.

It was about a young girl

trapped in a bad or even horrible situation.

I thought it would be interesting to take a young girl

and place her in this horrible situation

to see what she would do.

Often, in films with children,

the child is just acting,

and it's all either sweetness or silliness.

Wait a second.

Better? Okay, go.

But it would work better if —

What's happening here? She's been here a long time.

You have to film her as she passes.

Get her as she passes in one direction.

We can cut with the movement when she turns around.

Will you cut it with her coming or going?

Coming. We saw her leave.

Yes, we showed that. Let's try it.

- Okay. - Let's do a trial run.

Quiet on the set!

Only you can answer that, my dear.

He looks like a sheep this morning!

What happened to your hair?

Gentlemen, we start at 1:00 p.m.

You have half an hour.

It's almost time.

In ten minutes we have to be three miles from here.

Let's get moving.

Put your hand here.

Now push it off you.

Film her arm here, then catch up with her there.

Go ahead.

Keep going.

Get up right away.

She gets up too slowly.

Okay.

Stand as soon as you sit up.

Do it in one motion.

What?

Do it again.

Don't get up jerkily.

Take the sitting position a moment. Thanks.

Start over.

Just like you were before.

Put your left hand there.

Push it off you.

Sit up and stand right away.

Slowly.

That's okay.

Will that work?

When? - The first few times.

Start over.

Do it in a single movement.

Do it at your own pace, but keep it fluid.

Ready? Go.

Go ahead.

Do your breathing.

Be careful where you look.

Do your breathing.

Not so heavy.

Close your mouth completely.

Close your mouth.

Does her eyeline match? Let me check.

Don't look up so high, Nadine.

Good. No higher. Did you choose a spot?

You know where to look?

It was better before.

Start from the beginning, please.

No, stay sitting up for a second.

Jean, are you framing her head or her elbow?

Or purposely not framing? That might be best.

You see? If you get her head, the framing's bad.

Make it half her head and half her hand.

We'll get all of her when she stands. No use framing her head here.

I could follow her head as she stands up.

But you catch up with her.

Let's try it. Go ahead, Nadine.

Go ahead.

In one movement.

I like that better.

Did you see her head? I'd only get part of it.

She enters the frame and stands right away.

Whatever you think best.

- We could do both. - Fine.

Ready?

Let's start over.

One last time.

Do it just like before, nice and fluid.

All in one movement.

Get her head, like you wanted.

Get up slowly.

That was a bit jerky.

You have her? Take a position.

It's definitely related.

I've already said that other arts...

or other muses...

mustn't be mixed with the muse of cinema.

However, I believe...

they can be friends.

I think the muse of painting can be friends with cinema,

but not the muse of literature.

Degas, the great painter, had a wonderful line.

He said the muses never speak to each other,

but sometimes they dance together.

So the muse of painting can dance with the muse of cinema.

But a word of warning: Even though I'm a painter,

don't jump to conclusions.

I'm not trying to make a painting.

I'm against making films into paintings or picture postcards.

No. Walk nearby and stop.

Get out of the way. Let him go by.

Can you manage?

This is a terrible position for the shot.

We can't even see his head.

Let's start again.

Action. Pull it back.

Stop!

- Her bangs should be down. - Like this.

Jean, are you following his head?

- There? Yes. - Darn it. That's too bad.

You didn't think to frame his body?

Didn't you wait for him?

Sure, I did. Getting his head is the hard part.

- Why not do it from the back? - Then I get the shoulder.

Okay, the shoulder. You didn't reframe it?

It's a static shot?

That means we can show his exit using his shoulder.

Let's start over.

I forgot to tell you, but it was a static shot.

You didn't follow the movement?

Shoot the exit. Otherwise we're short on time.

I must say something.

Unfortunately, in my opinion —

which you don't have to share —

in contemporary cinema,

objects and characters are framed

in terms of the dramatic function they'd have in the theater.

They're placed here or there in order to say or do something

exactly like in a play.

For me, the position and order of characters

and the framing of a shot

are the essence of cinema.

They're much more important than the simple dramatic action,

which is only revealed through the form the shot takes.

In cinema, what matters is the form,

and it must be given priority.

When composing a shot,

the composition must express something

even before the characters speak.

The shot itself should embody the idea.

More to the left.

Follow her.

Start. It's a low shot.

Lower it.

Even lower. Get her back.

- Want me to get her head? - Yes.

That makes it easier to understand, right?

Some start here. Others start on her left.

On her left?

To make it shorter, she has to be alone.

The last group has to be quicker.

Okay.

Go, Nadine. Slowly.

Everyone else, faster!

Damn it. Cut. It's no good.

Back in position.

She should be last, not first.

Of course.

The last group has to pass her right here.

The last group passes her here.

She goes in alone behind them.

Don't go yet.

Lower. Real low.

First group, go ahead.

Not the last group. Go, Nadine.

Last group, quickly!

Slow down, Nadine.

Is that better?

Back in position.

There's solidarity in good and solidarity in evil.

For this film, I chose to focus solely on the solidarity in evil.

There's a kind of evil complicity

against poor Mouchette,

but that was the author's choice.

Georges Bernanos had to choose evil rather than good,

because Mouchette would not only suffer but die because of it.

I don't think the transformation was very clear in the book.

It was glossed over a bit.

Nonetheless, I believe I'll manage

to show how, despite appearances,

this transformation of the soul still occurs,

but in secret.

It will be expressed through images

and the relationship between sound and image.

Redemption isn't achieved in death.

We don't know what happens after death.

Redemption must occur now,

while we're alive.

Christ redeemed us with his death,

but we must redeem ourselves with our lives,

for it's up to us to choose to be redeemed.

We have to raise her up.

We can't go any higher. We have to raise her.

Raise her.

Raise the lady five more.

We can pull back a bit more.

That stretched beyond the horizon

Three days and I'll give you a world

It was like that. It was already ajar.

She had to squeeze to get through.

When she came through here?

We see her back when she enters the shot.

It's fine like that.

Is she moving left or right?

Slant the fence this way so it isn't so flat.

No, forget it. We'll get shadows.

Was it right-left or left-right?

To get her position in relation to the gate.

She can enter here or there. It doesn't matter.

That's good.

Don't slant it too much. The sun will cast shadows.

Keep looking that way. Go on, slide through.

Cut.

I wonder if her sliding through —

Arms stiff. Slow down.

Look at the house.

Slide through slowly.

Very slowly. Good. Cut.

Very good. Print that one.

- How much? - That's done.

Test included, 260 feet.

In my opinion...

it's clear that music is one of the elements

that transforms a film.

Let me back up a bit.

I believe all the elements: image, sound —

and sound includes dialogue, sound effects, and music —

should work together to effect a transformation.

Without transformation, it isn't art.

That's why I consider today's cinema a reproduction,

not a true art,

because it's just a copy of another art: theater.

If we want cinema to be a true, independent art,

there must be transformation.

An image or a sound on its own is nothing.

It takes on meaning

only in relation to what transforms it.

An image only matters in relation to other images,

or a sound to other sounds

or to the images it accompanies.

I made this mistake at first too,

but music mustn't be used to underscore or emphasize

but to transform.

Therefore, in Mouchette,

the music used, sacred music...

probably certain wonderful passages

from Monteverdi's Magnificat,

will be used during the hunting scene that I added.

I wanted to establish a connection between the prey and Mouchette.

With sacred music playing during the hunting scene,

you'll see an extraordinary transformation of the wild animals

through Monteverdi's music.

Mouchette, scene 339, take 1.

Don't waste any time. Go.

Okay. Go ahead.

Watch out. You're being filmed.

As long as those guys don't break the camera.

You'd better watch out.

Mustard?

That's not bad.

There, the mustard. Nice shot.

AU HASARD BRESSON