Les Modèles de pickpocket

In addition to his filmmaking Robert Bresson wrote a kind of mini guidebook to his filmmaking practice in Notes on the Cinematographer. One of the most striking and influential ideas he proposed was that of treating actors as models; blank slates to manipulate and direct like models. Consequently he never worked with stars, only non-professionals. The performances he evoked were consistently intense and include the greatest performance by a donkey on screen in Au hasard Balthazar.

Babette Mangolte’s fascinating documentary seeks to discover the effects of Bresson’s technique upon his actors and uncover the secret to this controversial yet pivotal component of his art. She interviews the people who played the leading roles in his masterpiece Pickpocket, who all reacted in very different ways to their experience of the film. Of particular note is Martin LaSalle (the protagonist Michel), who ended up living as a recluse in South America.