Les dames du Bois de Boulogne

This film shows Bresson before he turned to using nonprofessional actors. But it's still Bresson in its austerity and economy. He demonstrates the vapidity and luxury of the idle class without overwhelming us with the accouterments. Skillfully, he moves forward the story of a scheming, jealous, vengeful society woman whose own tricks have blown up in her face.

One of your commenters complained the film was boring, but that wasn't my experience. I will grant that, if you're looking for explosions,90-degree plot turns, or uproarious comedy, you will certainly be disappointed. On the other hand, if you enjoy watching and hearing a master look into a soulless bosom, and if you enjoy sitting back while a serious artist shows us how to advance a simple but serious plot about serious people, you'll enjoy Dames.

A society lady (Maria Casarès) engineers a marriage between her lover (Paul Bernard) and a cabaret dancer (Élina Labourdette) who is essentially a prostitute.

Not to say the acting isn't great or the direction isn't wonderful... because they both are. But this really comes down to a great script. This is the sort of bait and switch comedy that the French were great at. Diderot, Voltaire, Beaumarchais... there is a music to their writing that I have never found in any other nation's literature.

This translates fairly well to the screen, and is a great farce about social standing and romance. Now, whether Agnes is a prostitute or not, I don't know. Although she clearly was in the original story, some say she is not in the film. Regardless, the humor of the comedy remains the same.

This is Robert Bresson's most stylish, and possibly his most romantic movie; it is an elegant and refined drama of jealousy and revenge. It is full of wonderful details, such as the scene of Elina Labourdette's night club act, or the wonderful moment later in the film where she bursts into dance because of her boredom with her confinement. Maria Casares's performance is in the grand tradition: no one can show steely determination and erotic frustration better. This is Bresson's first masterpiece, and was a failure upon release, but has come to be regarded as one of the great films in French film history.

There is much to enjoy in this simple tale of the wrath of a woman scorned, but 'timeless', 'masterpiece' or 'spellbinding', I rather think not. It is beautifully shot with memorable performances and an effective if barely believable dialogue. Early on the power and determination evidenced by a mere look from Maria Casares does give one hope that this might have the power of a vintage Bunuel. Unfortunately, for me, Bresson is far more interested in humiliation and misogyny than real passion and convincing evil. I know allowances have to be made for the passing time and changes morals but surely even within the movie as it stands little really adds up. Something of infatuation is illustrated but where is the wonderful portrayal of deep love that some strange folk detect?

Worldly Parisian Helene (Maria Casares) realizes that her boyfriend Jean (Paul Bernard) has fallen out of love with her. She then sets out to secretly arrange for a relationship to form between Jean and self-loathing dancer and prostitute Agnes (Elina Labourdette). Also featuring Lucienne Bogaert, Jean Marchat, and Yvette Etievant.

Robert Bresson and melodrama are two things I wouldn't expect to see together, seeing as how the director strove in his later work to remove as much sentiment and emotion as possible from his narratives. I couldn't get into this dark soap opera much, for a few reasons. The central character of Jean is never presented in such a way as to explain why anyone, either the two ladies or the audience, should care about him at all. With Jean being such an uninspired sop, most of the rest of the story seems much ado about nothing.

Casares is good in moments as the plotting Helene, but her ever-present "cat ate the canary" smirk grows tiresome and almost comical. Why would anyone trust this woman when she constantly looks like she just poisoned you? Finally, Elena Labourdette gets the biggest emotional workout in the piece, and she seems the most natural. Still, as with Jean, the script is often vague about why these characters behave as they do. Overall, I was disappointed in this, as I like many of Bresson's later works, but this just failed to click.