#106 -
L'argent (1983) -
Alright, let's give it
Either Bresson's last work features the worse acting I have seen on this list, or it is the director's intent. Rhetorical question (statement) actually, as the direction makes it fairly evident that the "actors" in this film are supposed to be little more than mere mannequins, automatons: the camera is far more concerned with their hands (and incidentally, their mid sections) than their one note faces, or worse, one note stiffness from head to toe.
The film actually had me for a while. Before whatshisname ended up in jail, I was mildly involved before I realized it was a one trick pony: close up of hands handling money, locks, purses, closing and opening doors... etc.
Typical of French films of this time (the type I grew up with in the 80s), ambient sounds are disproportionately loud and call attention to themselves, often in the form of nearby motor vehicles, often at the loudest at the start of scenes (the editing sorta cuts into them), creating this obviously manufactured feeling of "being there".
Why the half star? I did like the extreme economy of dialog, Bresson typically cuts to dialog already in progress, and we show up just in time to hear the relevant info then cut to the next scene. But really that's it!
Terrible film, the kind that makes me doubt the wisdom of the voters on this list. I mean, what in the world would possess anyone to consider this one of the best films ever made, 95th out of almost 400??!!
Frigging
L'argent was voted ahead of:
All About Eve
The Best Years of our Lives
Do the Right Thing
In the Mood for Love
Paths of Glory
Farewell My Concubine
Fargo
The Good The Bad and the Ugly
The Lady Vanishes
Rosemary's Baby
... to name 10 films I rank
(if I were to list everything between
and
, the list would be a LOT longer)
--
H