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92-435: Robert Bresson ( French: [ʁɔbɛʁ bʁɛsɔ̃] ; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director . Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses , and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of minimalist film. Much of his work is known for being tragic in story and nature. Bresson

184-473: A film school to get a bachelor's degree studying film or cinema. Film students generally study the basic skills used in making a film. This includes, for example, preparation, shot lists and storyboards, blocking, communicating with professional actors, communicating with the crew, and reading scripts. Some film schools are equipped with sound stages and post-production facilities. Besides basic technical and logistical skills, students also receive education on

276-414: A prisoner of war for more than a year; an experience which informed Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut ( A Man Escaped ). In a career that spanned fifty years, Bresson made only 13 feature-length films. This reflects his painstaking approach to the filmmaking process and his non-commercial preoccupations. Difficulty finding funding for his projects was also a factor. Bresson

368-461: A "politically correct rejiggering", with its selection of Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles as the greatest film of all time being the product of "distorted woke reappraisal". In 2023, he also criticized the politicization of the 95th Academy Awards , writing that the Oscars' "scramble to be woke" have made their ceremony "mean less each year". In 2012, Schrader participated in

460-424: A cocaine addiction, which contributed to his divorce from his first wife, art director Jeannine Oppewall . He then moved from Los Angeles to Japan in hopes of getting his life on track, finally quitting drugs around 1990. His second marriage is to actress Mary Beth Hurt , who has appeared in smaller roles in a variety of his films. Together they have two children, a daughter and a son. In September 2022, Schrader

552-453: A detailed critical analysis. The Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman praised and admired Bresson's films such as Mouchette and Diary of a Country Priest , although he disliked Au hasard Balthazar . The French filmmaker Jean Cocteau held Bresson in high regard. The French filmmaker Alain Resnais was a strong admirer of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville

644-505: A film based on the Book of Genesis , although he believed such a production would be too costly and time-consuming. Bresson's early artistic focus was to separate the language of cinema from that of the theater, which often relies heavily upon the actor's performance to drive the work. Film scholar Tony Pipolo writes that "Bresson opposed not just professional actors, but acting itself," preferring to think of his actors as 'models'. In Notes on

736-485: A flat fee for the project, as a weekly salary, or as a daily rate. A handful of top Hollywood directors made from $ 133.3 million to $ 257.95 million in 2011, such as James Cameron and Steven Spielberg , but the average United States film directors and producers made $ 89,840 in 2018. A new Hollywood director typically gets paid around $ 400,000 for directing their first studio film. The average annual salary in England

828-400: A general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue, while others control every aspect and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Other directors edit or appear in their films or compose music score for their films. A film director's task is to envisage

920-687: A generally negative reaction. After that, Schrader filmed The Walker (2007), starring Woody Harrelson as a male escort caught up in a political murder enquiry, and the Israel-set Adam Resurrected (2008), which stars Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe . Schrader headed the International Jury of the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival and in 2011 became a jury member for the ongoing Filmaka short film contest. On July 2, 2009, Schrader

1012-592: A high reputation with the founders of the French New Wave . He is often listed (along with Alexandre Astruc and André Bazin ) as one of the main figures who influenced them. New Wave pioneers praised Bresson and posited him as a prototype for or precursor to the movement. However, Bresson was neither as overtly experimental nor as outwardly political as the New Wave filmmakers, and his religious views ( Catholicism and Jansenism ) were not attractive to most of

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1104-546: A lasting impression on Schrader are John Ford , Jean Renoir , Roberto Rossellini , Alfred Hitchcock , and Sam Peckinpah . Renoir's The Rules of the Game he called the "quintessential movie" which represents "all of the cinema". In 1974, Schrader and his brother Leonard co-wrote The Yakuza , a film set in the Japanese crime world. The script became the subject of a bidding war, eventually selling for $ 325,000. The film

1196-622: A loose trilogy with another thriller, Master Gardener , starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver . Like the rest of the trilogy, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, where Schrader was awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award . In 2023, it was confirmed Schrader would write and direct Oh, Canada , an adaptation of his friend Russell Banks ' novel, Foregone , starring Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi . Additionally, Schrader has written

1288-571: A loose trilogy: First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021), and Master Gardener (2022). Schrader was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan , the son of Joan ( née Fisher) and Charles A. Schrader, an executive. Schrader's family attended the Calvinist Christian Reformed Church . Schrader's mother was of Dutch descent, the daughter of emigrants from Friesland , while Schrader's paternal grandfather

1380-566: A mark on his films: Catholicism , art, and his experiences as a prisoner of war . Robert Bresson lived in Paris , France, in the Île Saint-Louis . Initially also a photographer, Bresson made his first short film, Les affaires publiques ( Public Affairs ) in 1934. Bresson enlisted in the French Army on the onset of World War II , where he was captured by the Germans in 1940 and held as

1472-551: A recent trend of more attention to women directors in India, brought on partly by Amazon and Netflix moving into the industry. Of the movies produced in Nollywood , women direct only 2%. There are many different awards for film directing, run by various academies , critics associations , film festivals , and guilds . The Academy Award for Best Director and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director are considered among

1564-522: A remark Chateaubriand had made about 19th century poets and applying it to actors: "what they lack is not naturalness, but Nature." For Bresson, "to think it's more natural for a movement to be made or a phrase to be said like this than like that " is "absurd", and "nothing rings more false in film [...] than the overstudied sentiments" of theater. With his 'model' technique, Bresson's actors were required to repeat multiple takes of each scene until all semblances of 'performance' were stripped away, leaving

1656-797: A room" stories which feature isolated, troubled men confronting an existential crisis . Raised in a strict Calvinist family, Schrader attended Calvin College before pursuing film studies at UCLA on the encouragement of film critic Pauline Kael . He then worked as a film scholar and critic, publishing the book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972) before transitioning to screenwriting in 1974. The success of Taxi Driver in 1976 brought greater attention to his work, and Schrader began directing his own films, beginning with Blue Collar (co-written with his brother, Leonard Schrader ). Schrader has described three of his recent films as

1748-576: A room" stories. The protagonist in each film changes from an angry, then narcissistic, later anxious character, to a person who hides behind a mask of superficiality. Although many of his films or scripts are based on real-life biographies (Raging Bull , Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters , Patty Hearst , Auto Focus) , Schrader confessed having problems with biographical films due to their altering of actual events, which he tried to prevent by imposing structures and stylization. Schrader battled

1840-556: A stark effect that registers as both subtle and raw. This, as well as Bresson's restraint in musical scoring, would have a significant influence on minimalist cinema. In the academic journal CrossCurrents , Shmuel Ben-gad wrote: There is a credibility in Bresson's models: They are like people we meet in life, more or less opaque creatures who speak, move, and gesture [...] Acting, on the other hand, no matter how naturalistic, actively deforms or invents by putting an overlay or filter over

1932-403: A way to translate a screenplay into a fully formed film, and then to realize this vision. To do this, they oversee the artistic and technical elements of film production. This entails organizing the film crew in such a way to achieve their vision of the film and communicating with the actors. This requires skills of group leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in

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2024-700: A western called Three Guns at Dawn, for Antoine Fuqua to direct; a drama about a trauma nurse called R.N for Elisabeth Moss to star in and direct; and an untitled script about a sex addict. Schrader has written two stage plays, Berlinale and Cleopatra Club . The latter saw its premiere at the Powerhouse Theater in Poughkeepsie , New York , in 1995 and its foreign language debut in Vienna in 2011. A recurring theme in Schrader's films

2116-520: A yearly salary from ¥4 million to ¥10 million, and the Directors Guild of Japan requires a minimum payment of ¥3.5 million. Korean directors make 300 million to 500 million won for a film, and beginning directors start out making around 50 million won. A Korean director who breaks into the Chinese market might make 1 billion won for a single film. According to a 2018 report from UNESCO ,

2208-597: Is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music.") Screenwriter and director Alain Cavalier describes Bresson's role as pivotal not only in the New Wave movement, but for French cinema in general, writing, "In French cinema you have a father and a mother: the father is Bresson and the mother is Renoir , with Bresson representing the strictness of the law and Renoir warmth and generosity. All

2300-740: Is a film criticism concept that holds that a film director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through studio interference and the collective process. Some film directors started as screenwriters , film editors , producers , actors , or film critics , as well as directing for similar media like television and commercials. Several American cinematographers have become directors, including Barry Sonnenfeld , originally

2392-445: Is among the most highly regarded filmmakers of all time. He has the highest number of films (seven) that made the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the 250 greatest films ever made. His works A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and Au hasard Balthazar (1966) were ranked among the top 100, and other films like Mouchette (1967) and L'Argent (1983) also received many votes. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He

2484-408: Is an attempt to create a new language of moving images and sounds. Bresson is often referred to as a " patron saint " of cinema, not only for the strong Catholic themes found throughout his oeuvre, but also for his notable contributions to the art of film. His style can be detected through his use of sound, associating selected sounds with images or characters; paring dramatic form to its essentials by

2576-435: Is designed (like Ozu's) to discipline the emotions at the same time that it arouses them: to induce a certain tranquility in the spectator, a state of spiritual balance that is itself the subject of the film." Some feel that Bresson's Catholic upbringing and belief system lie behind the thematic structures of most of his films. Recurring themes under this interpretation include salvation , redemption , defining and revealing

2668-409: Is one of the most respected books on film theory and criticism. His theories about film greatly influenced other filmmakers, particularly the French New Wave directors. Opposing the established pre-war French cinema (known as Tradition de la Qualité ["tradition of quality"]) by offering his own personal responses to the question "what is cinema?", and by formulating his ascetic style, Bresson gained

2760-529: Is the French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music." Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe , Puy-de-Dôme , the son of Marie-Élisabeth (née Clausels) and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine , close to Paris, and turned to painting after graduating. Three formative influences in his early life seem to have made

2852-411: Is the feeling that God is everywhere, and the more I live, the more I see that in nature, in the country. When I see a tree, I see that God exists. I try to catch and to convey the idea that we have a soul and that the soul is in contact with God. That's the first thing I want to get in my films. In a 1976 interview with Paul Schrader , Bresson said that he was concerned by what he saw as "the collapse of

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2944-413: Is the protagonist on a self-destructive path, or undertaking actions which work against himself, deliberately or subconsciously. The finale often bears an element of redemption, preceded by a painful sacrifice or cathartic act of violence. Schrader has repeatedly referred to Taxi Driver , American Gigolo , Light Sleeper , The Canyons , The Walker , First Reformed , and The Card Counter as "a man in

3036-443: Is what it is—ordinary, simple—without pronouncing the word 'God,' the more I see the presence of God in that. ... I don't want to shoot something in which God would be too transparent." In his work, "there is a presence of something which I call God, but I don't want to show it too much. I prefer to make people feel it." Furthermore, in a 1983 interview for TSR 's Spécial Cinéma , Bresson declared that he had been interested in making

3128-738: Is £50,440, in Canada is $ 62,408, and in Western Australia it can range from $ 75,230 to $ 97,119. In France, the average salary is €4000 per month, paid per project. Luc Besson was the highest paid French director in 2017, making €4.44 million for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets . That same year, the top ten French directors' salaries in total represented 42% of the total directors' salaries in France. Film directors in Japan average

3220-731: The Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film on March 18, 2005, as Exorcist: The Original Prequel . Due to extreme interest in Schrader's version from critics and cinephiles alike, Warner Bros. agreed to give the film a limited theatrical release later that year under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist . The film was only shown on 110 screens around the United States and made just $ 251,000. The critics liked Schrader's version much better than Harlin's. However, Schrader's film ultimately met with

3312-478: The Ian McEwan novel, and Light Sleeper (1992), a sympathetic study of a drug dealer vying for a normal life. In 2005, Schrader described Light Sleeper as his "most personal" film. In 1997, he made Touch (1997), based on an Elmore Leonard novel about a young man seemingly able to cure the sick by the laying on of hands. In 1998, Schrader won critical acclaim for the drama Affliction . The film tells

3404-606: The Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America . In 2002, he directed the acclaimed biopic Auto Focus , based on the life and murder of Hogan's Heroes actor Bob Crane . In 2003, Schrader made entertainment headlines after being fired from The Exorcist: Dominion , a prequel film to the horror classic The Exorcist from 1973. The film's production companies Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures intensely disliked

3496-611: The Second Vatican Council 's transition to the Mass of Paul VI , explaining that while he still felt a sense of transcendence sitting in a cathedral, Vatican II's changes to the Mass made it harder for him to feel the presence of God. Although several writers claim that Bresson described himself as a "Christian atheist", it is not known in what context he made that statement (if he ever did). In 1973, Bresson explained: There

3588-413: The 2017 Venice Film Festival and received critical acclaim. Schrader received his first Academy Award nomination for the film in the category Best Original Screenplay . In 2021, he directed the crime drama film The Card Counter , starring Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish . The film also premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and was widely lauded by critics. Schrader grouped these two films into

3680-1060: The Berlin/Brandenburg TV station RBB (Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting) and ARTE . In recent decades American directors have primarily been coming out of USC , UCLA , AFI , Columbia University , and NYU , each of which is known for cultivating a certain style of filmmaking. Notable film schools outside of the United States include Beijing Film Academy , Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico City, Dongseo University in South Korea, FAMU in Prague, Film and Television Institute of India , HFF Munich , La Fémis in Paris, Tel Aviv University , and Vancouver Film School . Film directors usually are self-employed and hired per project based on recommendations and industry reputation. Compensation might be arranged as

3772-470: The Catholic religion" in France. He did not believe the post-Vatican II Church was capable of responding to this challenge. The Devil Probably incorporates some of his criticisms of the post-Vatican II Church. Bresson explained that his youthful protagonist "is looking for something on top of life, but he doesn't find it. He goes to Church to seek it, and he doesn't find it." In addition, an early scene in

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3864-620: The Cinematographer (original French title: Notes sur le cinématographe ; also published in English as Notes on the Cinematograph ), a collection of aphorisms written by Bresson, the director succinctly defines the difference between the two: HUMAN MODELS: movement from the exterior to the interior. [...] ACTORS: movement from the interior to the exterior. Bresson further elaborates on his disdain for acting by appropriating

3956-528: The Coen brothers' Director of Photography; Wally Pfister , cinematographer on Christopher Nolan 's three Batman films made his directorial debut with Transcendence (2014). Despite the misnomer, assistant director has become a completely separate career path and is not typically a position for aspiring directors, but there are exceptions in some countries such as India where assistant directors are indeed directors-in-training. Many film directors have attended

4048-544: The Country , which he saw sometime later, had quite some effect on him. Schrader attributes his intellectual rather than emotional approach towards movies and movie-making to his having no adolescent movie memories. Schrader earned his B.A. in philosophy with a minor in theology from Calvin College but decided against becoming a minister. He then earned an M.A. in film studies at the UCLA Film School upon

4140-604: The Criterion Collection. The British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan was influenced by Bresson's films (specifically Pickpocket and A Man Escaped ) for his film, Dunkirk . The Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos listed Bresson as one of his favorite filmmakers and picked Pickpocket as "the most moving film I've ever seen". Benny Safdie named the Bresson's film A Man Escaped as his favorite film of all time. Martin Scorsese praised Bresson as "one of

4232-456: The Dead (1999). Schrader has also worked extensively as a director: his 23 films include Blue Collar (1978), Hardcore (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), Light Sleeper (1992), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017), with the last of these earning him his first Academy Award nomination. Schrader's work frequently depicts "man in

4324-574: The Light , an espionage thriller starring Nicolas Cage as a government agent suffering from a deadly disease, Anton Yelchin and Irène Jacob . In post-production Schrader was denied final cut by the film's producers. The film was negatively received by many film critics and was a box-office bomb . Schrader later recut Dying of the Light into the separate, more experimental work Dark , which received more positive reviews. Schrader's dramatic thriller First Reformed , starring Ethan Hawke , premiered at

4416-465: The Third Kind (1977), but Spielberg disliked the script, calling it "terribly guilt-ridden", and opted for something lighter. He also wrote an early draft of Rolling Thunder (1977), which the film's producers had reworked without his participation. He disapproved of the final film. Schrader's script about an obsessed New York City taxi driver became Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver , which

4508-417: The actors didn't act out the emotions, the audience could internalize them." In Against Interpretation , Susan Sontag wrote that "Some art aims directly at arousing the feelings; some art appeals to the feelings through the route of the intelligence ... art that detaches, that provokes reflection. In the film, the master of the reflective mode is Robert Bresson." Sontag said that "the form of Bresson’s films

4600-546: The better French cinema has and will have to connect to Bresson in some way." Bresson has also influenced a number of other filmmakers, including Andrei Tarkovsky , Chantal Akerman , Jean Eustache , Abel Ferrara , Philippe Garrel , Hal Hartley , Monte Hellman , Jim Jarmusch , Louis Malle , Michael Haneke , Olivier Assayas , Atom Egoyan , the Dardenne brothers , Aki Kaurismäki , and Paul Schrader , whose book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer includes

4692-401: The birth of his children. As of 2018, he attends a Presbyterian church. His films frequently feature religious themes. However, Schrader has now emphasized that he considers himself to be just a Christian. In December 2016, Schrader referred to the then-upcoming Trump presidency as "a call to violence" and said "we should be willing to take arms. Like Old John Brown ." He quickly deleted

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4784-467: The cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay within the budget . There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters , cinematographers , producers , film editors or actors. Other film directors have attended film school. Directors use different approaches. Some outline

4876-441: The character of George C. Scott , which was based on Schrader's father. Among Paul Schrader's films in the 1980s were American Gigolo starring Richard Gere (1980), his Cat People (1982) a remake of the 1942 film Cat People , and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985). Inspired by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima , the film interweaves episodes from Mishima's life with dramatizations of segments from his books. Mishima

4968-479: The cinema's greatest artists" and an influence on his films such as Taxi Driver . Andrei Tarkovsky held Bresson in very high regard, noting him and Ingmar Bergman as his two favourite filmmakers, and stating: "I am only interested in the views of two people: one is called Bresson and one called Bergman." In his book Sculpting in Time , Tarkovsky describes Bresson as "perhaps the only artist in cinema, who achieved

5060-422: The director ensures that all individuals involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges they have to tackle has been described as "a multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with egos and weather thrown in for good measure". It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when and how they will work again, if at all. Generally,

5152-435: The director works with the editor to edit the material into the director's cut . Well-established directors have the " final cut privilege ", meaning that they have the final say on which edit of the film is released. For other directors, the studio can order further edits without the director's permission. The director is one of the few positions that requires intimate involvement during every stage of film production . Thus,

5244-473: The drastically secular subjects of crime, the revenge of betrayed love, and solitary imprisonment also yield the same themes." Bresson worried that the new French generation was too materialistic to harbor true religious belief, saying that "every religion is poverty and poverty is the way of having contact with mystery and with God. When Catholicism wants to be materialistic, God is not there." He tried to reach modern audiences indirectly, explaining, "the more life

5336-423: The film Schrader had made. Director Renny Harlin was hired to re-shoot nearly the entire movie, which was released as Exorcist: The Beginning on August 20, 2004, to disastrously negative reviews and embarrassing box office receipts. Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek put over $ 80 million into the endeavor, and Harlin's film only made back $ 41 million domestically. Schrader's version of the film eventually premiered at

5428-496: The film as challenging to make, because of the artistic and personal tensions between him and the cast. During principal photography, he suffered an on-set mental collapse, which led him to reconsider his career seriously. John Milius acted as executive producer on the following year's Hardcore , again written by Schrader, a film with many autobiographical parallels in his depiction of the Calvinist milieu of Grand Rapids, and in

5520-478: The film industry throughout the world has a disproportionately higher number of male directors compared to female directors, and they provide as an example the fact that only 20% of films in Europe are directed by women. 44% of graduates from a sample of European films schools are women, and yet women are only 24% of working film directors in Europe. However only a fraction of film school graduates aspire to direct with

5612-465: The film shows a young Catholic complaining that the post-Vatican II Church "run[s] after Protestants." Bresson explained that his films often address secular themes because he believed that a secular film with religious undercurrents was more likely to resonate with modern filmgoers than an explicitly religious theme. Susan Sontag wrote that in his films, while a "religious vocation supplies one setting for ideas about gravity, lucidity, and martyrdom, ...

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5704-497: The filmmaker was "a mysterious, aloof figure", and wrote that on the set of Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971), where Rosenbaum was an extra, the director "seemed more isolated from his crew than any other filmmaker I've seen at work; his widow and onetime assistant director, Mylene van der Mersch, often conveyed his instructions." Bresson died on 18 December 1999, at his home in Droue-sur-Drouette southwest of Paris. He

5796-438: The filmmakers associated with the movement. In his development of auteur theory , François Truffaut lists Bresson among the few directors to whom the term "auteur" can genuinely be applied, and later names him as one of the only examples of directors who could approach even the so-called "unfilmable" scenes, using the film narrative at its disposal. Jean-Luc Godard also looked upon Bresson with high admiration ("Robert Bresson

5888-432: The human soul , and metaphysical transcendence of a limiting and materialistic world. An example is A Man Escaped (1956), where a seemingly simple plot of a prisoner of war 's escape can be read as a metaphor for the mysterious process of salvation. Bresson's films are also critiques of French society and the wider world, with each revealing the director's sympathetic, if unsentimental, view of society's victims. That

5980-532: The main characters of Bresson's most contemporary films, The Devil, Probably (1977) and L'Argent (1983), reach similarly unsettling conclusions about life indicates the director's feelings towards the culpability of modern society in the dissolution of individuals. Of an earlier protagonist he said, "Mouchette offers evidence of misery and cruelty. She is found everywhere: wars, concentration camps, tortures, assassinations." Film historian Mark Cousins argues that "If Bergman and Fellini filmed life as if it

6072-472: The majority entering the industry in other roles. In Hollywood, women make up only 12.6 percent of film directors, as reported by a UCLA study of the 200 top theatrical films of 2017, but that number is a significant increase from 6.9% in 2016. As of 2014, there were only 20 women in the Directors Guild of Japan out of the 550 total members. Indian film directors are also greatly underrepresented by women, even compared to other countries, but there has been

6164-641: The most prestigious awards for directing, and there is even an award for worst directing given out during the Golden Raspberry Awards . Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader ( / ˈ ʃ r eɪ d ər / ; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first became known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese 's Taxi Driver (1976). He later continued his collaboration with Scorsese, writing or co-writing Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out

6256-548: The nature of professional relationships that occur during film production. A full degree course can be designed for up to five years of studying. Future directors usually complete short films during their enrollment. The National Film School of Denmark has the student's final projects presented on national TV. Some film schools retain the rights for their students' works. Many directors successfully prepared for making feature films by working in television. The German Film and Television Academy Berlin consequently cooperates with

6348-468: The perfect fusion of the finished work with a concept theoretically formulated beforehand." Although the number of films listed in the decennial Sight and Sound poll has changed over time, Bresson has normally been well-represented in these polls. The following table represents the critics' poll, not the related directors' poll. Only rankings above #250 are listed. Informational Interviews Film director The film director gives direction to

6440-591: The person, presenting a simplification of a human being and not allowing the camera to capture the actor's human depths. Thus what Bresson sees as the essence of filmic art, the achievement of the creative transformation involved in all art through the interplay of images of real things, is destroyed by the artifice of acting. For Bresson, then, acting is, like mood music and expressive camera work, just one more way of deforming reality or inventing that has to be avoided. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Bresson's directorial style resulted in films "of great passion: Because

6532-415: The position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that "20-hour days are not unusual". Some directors also take on additional roles, such as producing, writing or editing. Under European Union law, the film director is considered the "author" or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory . Auteur theory

6624-683: The post, but was visited by the New York City Police Department Counterterrorism Bureau for threatening violence. Schrader expressed some regret for his post (blaming it on him drinking alcohol and taking an Ambien ), apologizing for his post's violent rhetoric, but not for his comments critical of Trump. In 2021, Schrader attacked cancel culture , describing it as "infectious...like the Delta virus ". In 2022, Schrader criticized that year's Sight and Sound Greatest Films poll , describing it as

6716-482: The recommendation of Pauline Kael , who encouraged him to be a film critic. Schrader first became a film critic , writing for the Los Angeles Free Press and later for Cinema magazine. His book Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer , which examines the similarities between Robert Bresson , Yasujirō Ozu , and Carl Theodor Dreyer , was published in 1972. Other film-makers who made

6808-407: The restrictions of the film's budget and the demands of the producer and studio (such as the need to get a particular age rating ). Directors also play an important role in post-production . While the film is still in production, the director sends " dailies " to the film editor and explains their overall vision for the film, allowing the editor to assemble an editor's cut . In post-production,

6900-403: The sole superiors of the director are the producers and the studio that is financing the film, although sometimes the director can also be a producer of the same film. The role of a director differs from producers in that producers typically manage the logistics and business operations of the production, whereas the director is tasked with making creative decisions. The director must work within

6992-401: The spare use of music; and through his infamous 'actor-model' methods of directing his almost exclusively non-professional actors. Mark Cousins writes: So complete was Bresson's rejection of cinema norms that he has a tendency to fall outside film history. However, his uncompromising stance has been extremely influential in some quarters. Bresson's book Notes on the Cinematographer (1975)

7084-508: The story of a troubled small-town policeman ( Nick Nolte ) who becomes obsessed with solving the mystery behind a fatal hunting accident. Schrader's script was based on the novel by Russell Banks . The film was nominated for multiple awards, including two Academy Awards for acting (for Nolte and James Coburn ). Schrader received the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award the same year. In 1999, Schrader received

7176-477: The stressful, fast-paced environment of a film set. Moreover, it is necessary to have an artistic eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus, excellent communication skills are a must. Because the film director depends on the successful cooperation of many different creative individuals with possibly strongly contradicting artistic ideals and visions, they also need to possess conflict-resolution skills to mediate whenever necessary. Thus

7268-419: Was 98. He made his last film, L'Argent , in 1983 and had been unwell for some time. Bresson was a Catholic, although he disagreed with some points of Catholic theology, explaining that he was not sure of the resurrection of the body and "would rather be a Jansenist than Jesuit " due to his belief in predestination . In his later life he stopped attending church services due to his dissatisfaction with

7360-405: Was a theatre and a circus, respectively, Bresson's microcosm was that of a prison", describing Bresson's characters as "psychologically imprisoned". Bresson published Notes on the Cinematographer in 1975, in which he argues for a unique sense of the term " cinematography ". For him, cinematography is the higher function of cinema. While a movie is in essence "only" filmed theatre, cinematography

7452-565: Was also fond of Bresson and his work. The French filmmaker Jacques Rivette has acknowledged Bresson's influence on his films. The Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski was also influenced by him and ranked Bresson's film, A Man Escaped as one of the top ten films that "affected" him the most. The Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni was influenced by Bresson's film Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne . The German filmmaker Werner Herzog praised Bresson's films such as Pickpocket and Au hasard Balthazar . The Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr

7544-740: Was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting award at the ScreenLit Festival in Nottingham , England . Several of his films were shown at the festival, including Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters , which followed the presentation of the award by director Shane Meadows . After five years of trying and failing to find funding to make feature films, Schrader returned with The Canyons (2013), an erotic dramatic thriller written by Bret Easton Ellis and starring Lindsay Lohan and adult-film star James Deen . The film

7636-423: Was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Robert Mitchum . Robert Towne , best known for Chinatown , also received a credit for his rewrite. Although The Yakuza failed commercially, it brought Schrader to the attention of the new generation of Hollywood directors. In 1975, he wrote the script for Obsession for Brian De Palma . Schrader wrote an early draft of Steven Spielberg 's Close Encounters of

7728-412: Was from a German family that had come to the U.S. through Canada. His early life was based upon the religion's strict principles and parental education. He did not see a film until he was seventeen years old when he was able to sneak away from home. In an interview, he stated that The Absent-Minded Professor was the first film he saw. In his own words, he was "very unimpressed" by it, while Wild in

7820-504: Was hospitalized for "breathing problems". In January 2023, he and his wife moved from New York's suburban Putnam County to a luxury assisted-living facility in Manhattan's Hudson Yards area, where Hurt receives treatment for her worsening Alzheimer's . Schrader is a Christian . Raised Calvinist , Schrader abandoned religion in his young adulthood, before returning to Christianity later in life. He became an Episcopalian after

7912-495: Was influenced by Bresson and championed and paid homage to Bresson's film The Devil Probably with his film The Third Generation . When Fassbinder was a member of the jury in the 1977 Berlin Film Festival , he even went so far as to threaten to leave the jury (when his enthusiasm was not shared by his peers) unless his appreciation for Bresson's film was made known to the public. The Dardenne brothers 's film L'Enfant

8004-588: Was influenced by Bresson and listed Bresson film Au hasard Balthazar on his top ten films of all time. The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was highly influenced by Bresson and mentioned the personal importance of Bresson's book, Notes on the Cinematographer . The Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos listed Bresson's film Pickpocket on his top ten films of all time. The German director Wim Wenders praised and admired Bresson's films such as Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette , which were influential to his film career. The German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder

8096-478: Was influenced by Bresson's film Pickpocket . The German director Margarethe von Trotta lists Bresson as one of her favorite directors. The American filmmaker Wes Anderson listed Au hasard Balthazar as one of his favorite films in the Criterion Collection library and called Bresson's film Mouchette , "terrific". The American filmmaker Richard Linklater was influenced by Bresson's work and listed Au hasard Balthazar and Pickpocket in his top 10 film list from

8188-860: Was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival . Besides Taxi Driver (1976), Scorsese also drew on scripts by Schrader for the boxing tale Raging Bull (1980), co-written with Mardik Martin , The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Thanks partly to critical acclaim for Taxi Driver , Schrader was able to direct his first feature, Blue Collar (1978), co-written with his brother Leonard. Blue Collar features Richard Pryor , Harvey Keitel , and Yaphet Kotto as car factory workers attempting to escape their socio-economic rut through theft and blackmail . He has described

8280-559: Was nominated for the top prize (the Palme d'Or ) at the Cannes Film Festival . Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas served as executive producers. Schrader also directed Patty Hearst (1988), about the kidnapping and transformation of the Hearst Corporation heiress . In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival . His 1990s work included the travelers-in-Venice tale The Comfort of Strangers (1990), adapted by Harold Pinter from

8372-601: Was one of the first films to use the website Kickstarter to crowd-source its funding. Schrader also used the website Let It Cast to have unknown actors submit their audition tapes over the internet. American Apparel provided some wardrobe for the film. The film was ultimately made for just $ 250,000 and had a limited theatrical release from IFC Films on August 2, 2013. The film was poorly received by general critics and audiences. The film only made $ 56,000 in theaters but found later success when released on various Video on Demand platforms. In 2014, Schrader directed The Dying of

8464-475: Was sometimes accused of an " ivory tower existence". Later in his life, he said that he had stopped watching other filmmakers' movies in theaters, although he later praised the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981), saying that "It filled me with wonder ... if I could have seen it twice in a row and again the next day, I would have." Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum , an admirer of Bresson's work, argued that

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