Literary Nonfiction. Film Studies. Translated from the French by Jonathan Griffin. With an introduction by J. M. G. Le Clézio. Robert Bresson's NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPHER are working memos which the great French director made for his own use. In all of them, Bresson reflects with a craftsman's insight on techniques and their philosophical and aesthetic implications. Not surprisingly, these acute reflections will not only sharpen a filmmaker's sensibility but that of any artist in any medium. Bresson makes some quite radical distinctions between what he terms "cinematography" and something quite different: "cinema"—which is for him nothing but an attempt to photograph theater and use it for the screen.

Director of The Trial of Joan of Arc, Pickpocket, A Prisoner Escapes, Diary of a Country Priest, Money, and many other classic films, Bresson is, quite simply, one of the most brilliant cinematographers in the history of film.

"Bresson is the French cinema, as Dostoyevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music. Listen to him: 'A good craftsman loves the board he planes....'"—Jean-Luc Godard

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