Lancelot du Lac (1974)

Lancelot du Lac: Directed by Robert Bresson. With Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan, Vladimir Antolek-Oresek. King Arthur learns about his wife’s, Queen Guinevere, affair with Lancelot, who at the same time remains loyal to the king, particularly after Arthur’s traitorous nephew Mordred commits an attempt on his life.

“You know that everything is possible and cinema has no limits when the most austere, minimalist and anti-conventional director of all-time shoots his version of the story of Camelot… and makes a masterpiece. In the first shot we see two unknown knights having a typical medieval fight; one of them eventually is hit and fall dead, and some blood runs through the ground. The winner goes away. But the difference is that it is shown in the most raw way possible, without any kind of beauty or visual show to please the audience. Thatu0026#39;s the essence of Bressonu0026#39;s cinema: u0026quot;only the necessaryu0026quot;, said the master. Then, after the credits, we see that is not the Holy Grail story, the traditional story, but what happens next, it begins were the legend ends. The knights return demoralized to the kingdom. Their leader, Percival, is lost, and Lancelot blames himself and his adultery with Guinevere as the reason that the Grail was not found- the search for it was, for him, also the search for God. The Queen is not convinced, and ask his love with words which have nothing extraordinary alone; however, the emotionless way she asks makes it unusual, and somewhat disturbing. The knights are completely demystified and shown not as legend, but men, and men which lack something: is it love, God, a reason to live now that their search is over (and was unsuccessful)? Maybe all that, maybe more, but the fact is that eventually it will explode, and Camelotu0026#39;s decadence will be inevitable. Bressonu0026#39;s ultra-naturalistic and anti-conventional style makes itu0026#39;s images very powerful. The best are a tournament when he applies one of his principles u0026quot;to give something for the ears and then for the eyes, never bothu0026quot;, increasing the effect of the combats, which would have seem even foolish otherwise, and the ending, which is a very shocking one. Because of all that, Lancelot of the Lake is one of the finest films of one of cinemau0026#39;s greatest masters. Mainstream audiences will probably hate it, but one whou0026#39;s eager to see another side of a very known story should see it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePS: Iu0026#39;m quoting out of memory, so it maybe not be the exacts Bressonu0026#39;s words”