A Private War
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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (17) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (1) | DVD (2)
It's stunningly beautiful, mesmerising, exhausting, uplifting, amazing -- all the things you could possibly expect from a masterpiece.
The style is intact but the content is missing.
It belongs with Pickpocket and Au hasard Balthazar at the highest level of Bresson's achievement.
Aa depiction of a profound mood of loss and passing.
Bresson's stripped-to-the-bone adaptation eschews the traditionally heroic, spectacular, fabulous, and exaltedly romantic aspects of the legendary saga in order to lay bare the confusion and pain within the human soul.
Richly symbolic drama, endlessly inventive.
It's often characterized as a 'despairing' film in Bresson's late oeuvre, but in fact, it's an elegiac lamentation...beautifully rendered in loving, rhythmic care.
Cuts to the heart of the Arthurian tragedy… strips away the early grandeur of Camelot, leaving only the demoralized foundering in the wake of the failed Grail quest.
Bresson strips away frippery to such an extent that it should be a coma-inducing slog, but it's not.
It has a magnificence that creeps out a little at a time, especially over repeated viewings.
Even with a well-known story as its backdrop, it is only upon the third or fourth viewing that one can even begin to contemplate the larger questions at work in the film.
One suspects that Bresson wanted to interpret Arthurian legend in a way that would emphasize its petty emotions and physicalities.
Robert Bresson's low-budget attempt to de-romanticize the King Arthur myth has no romance, no gallantry, no smiles, almost no score and just a smidge of what might be called "acting." Instead, the film is mostly about Bresson's strange obsession with incidental sound. Lasting impressions of this film are not about dialogue or plot, but rather rattling armor and listless, unnaturally loud footsteps trudging across forest duff and castle floors. Not exactly compelling. Violence usually occurs off-camera, though the bloody opening minutes can't help but evoke Monty Python & the Holy Grail's notorious "only a flesh wound" scene. The homely, untrained cast is just another way to rob the viewer of any easy pleasures. The story itself skips all the glories of Arthur's court and picks up after the failed search for the Grail, so the mood is nothing but bleak. Approach at your own risk, and don't bother bringing a shrubbery.
Super Reviewer
Returning empty handed in his two-year search for the Holy Grail after having made a wrong turn somewhere, Lancelot(Luc Simon) is given a warm welcome back from King Arthur(Vladimir Antolek-Oresek). Mordred(Patrick Bernhard) emerges from the shadows just long enough to remind everybody that he told them so, before slinking back to his hole. All Queen Guinevere(Laura Duke Condominas) wants to know is why her knight, Lancelot, is not wearing her ring anymore. To start, "Lancelot of the Lake" takes an intriguing approach to violence, with the only graphic detail in its opening sequence(if it looks familiar, it should be pointed out that "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was made the following year), before pretty much avoiding it for the rest of the film, which speaks volumes to the knights' worthiness, considering their history of bloodshed and pillaging. This film is set during the downward slide of Arthur's rule, as he has no wish to replace any fallen knights. Otherwise, the movie can be talky, focusing more on relationships, which confirms the eternal power of this venerable tale.
i love the tales of king arthur, from excalibur to monty python :P this is of course the most minimalist version possible. and it's bloody! those who've seen a bresson film will know what to expect. for the rest, read bort16's review; i think he's said it all
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