Ok, I finally plunged into Au Hasard Baltazar, and I'm in the middle on it. I wasn't raving to the extent Ritchie was on the extra features, but a lot of knowledgable film people seem to rave about him. I was also intrigued and drawn to the Catholic imagery and allegory. I want to explore more, where would you go next, and what do you take from his work?

Go back to his earlier works: Diary of a County Priest, a Man Escaped, and Pickpocket.

This might help:

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/conten...2/bresson.html

Awesome resource man, thanks!

I don't know if I'm the only genius to have had this monumental brainstorm, but I am watching Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956) and I now understand that it is actually a Robert Bresson film (overt Catholic imagery and all) but with good production values and good acting, which makes all the difference in the world. You should also check out Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Bresson's first commercial failure (there were many to come), but with first-rate production values, good actors and a lively script by Jean Cocteau (1945, Criterion Collection).

I recommend Pickpocket to see next - what a great film.

I think A Man Escaped is a better introduction than Diary of a Country Priest. While the older film has a more conventional narrative structure, A Man Escaped seems to be a more compelling experience, and is an excellent example of Bresson's emphasis of the physical nature of the spirit. The close-ups of the prisoner's hands are awesome.

Yes, but I suppose you could almost say that about any film involving an innocent being persecuted for no good reason.

No. The Wrong Man shows Hitchcock at his most Catholic and most compassionate, without any trace of irony. It's also about simple everyday people, like Bresson's characters. The extremely simplified (transparent) style is also remniscent of Bresson. What it has that Bresson doesn't have is good actors, a strong story act, a very expensive recreation of "reality" and suspense.

Watch only A Man Escaped. Skip everything else.