Four Nights of a Dreamer
Synopsis
The 'dreamer' is Jacques, a young painter, who by chance runs into Marthe as she's contemplating suicide on the Pont-Neuf in Paris. They talk, and agree to see each other again the next night. Gradually, he discovers that her lover promised to meet her on the bridge that night, and he failed to turn up. Over the next couple of nights, Jacques falls in love with her - but on the fourth night her original lover returns...
Source : IMDb.
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (6)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producer : Albina Productions
- Foreign production company : I Film Dell'Orso
- Film exports/foreign sales : mk2 films
- French distributors : Les Films Imperia, mk2 films
Full credits (10)
- Screenwriter : Robert Bresson
- Directors of Photography : Pierre Lhomme, Ghislain Cloquet
- Music Composer : Michel Magne
- Assistant directors : Mylène Van Der Mersch, André Bitoun, Munni Kabir, Jean-Pierre Ghys
- Editor : Raymond Lamy
- Sound Recordist : Roger Letellier
- Author of original work : Fiodor Dostoïevski
- Producer : Albina Du Boisrouvray
- Production Manager : Georges Casati
- Production Designer : Pierre Charbonnier
Media Gallery
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Psychological drama
- Themes : Love, Wandering
- Production language : French
- Coproducer countries : France, Italy
Box-office & releases
News & awards
Selections (6)
Awards (1)
About
The film features cinematography characteristic of Robert Bresson. Shots are carefully choreographed and highly stylized, from the first scene in the movie when Jacques inexplicably travels to the countryside to turn somersaults in a field. Scenes of Jacques painting feature tight shots, showing just his hand, the paintbrush, characteristic and the thick line of paint. The scene in which Marthe looks at herself is especially striking. Bresson chooses not show her entire body but rather bits and segments, first her foot, then a buttock, then breasts. The film never declares what Marthe thinks of her body or even why she looks at herself. She may be admiring herself, hating herself, or conducting an anatomy lesson.
There is a dream-like quality to the film, especially to the evening scenes. Jacques and Marthe only see one another in the four evenings of their acquaintance. On the last evening, a pleasure boat travels along the River Seine. A band plays a song on the boat, which enchants Marthe and Jacques who lean against the parapet to listen. Bresson cuts to tight shots of the band, of the musicians strumming their instruments, and of the singer's face. The song is eerie and beautiful, the singer black, young, very attractive, and with the voice of angel. The film shows the entire song, the whole time with the camera focused on the musicians, not showing reaction shots of Jacques and Marthe. This contributes to the dreamy nature of the movie, as Marthe and Jacques are on the bridge, far from the boat, yet the film shows us the band from the point of view of a passenger on the boat or even of the musicians themselves.
The film does not explain why Marthe chooses her old lover in the end and not Jacques. It is not entirely clear whether Jacques is brokenhearted when Marthe leaves him.
Source : Wikipedia.
