Robert Bresson

Robert Breeson born in 1901 is a filmmaker who is master of the understatement. He trained as a painter and moved to film as a screenwriter making a short film Public Affairs in 1934. He spent over a year in a German prison camp in WWII and made his movie Angels of Sin in 1943 when he was released. He make Les dames du Bois de Boulogne in 1945 and this film was his last with professional actors.
Breeson believed that a minimalist style gave the audience an appreciation of art. He omitted all but the essentials and gave details in the soundtrack. His actors gave flat and undemanding performances. Bresson's films never gained great popularity but he did have a following among critics. These critics rate Breeson as one of the greatest artists in the art of the cinema. Breeson retired in 1980 after his failure to raise money for an adaption of the Book of Genesis.
His films are thematically bleak and he often uses Catholic themes and images. His characters go through terrible emotional tidal waves and are totally hopeless by the end of the film.
Breeson was married twice. Once to Leidia van de Zee in 1926 ?€“ ending date unknown. It is not known when he married Marie-Madeleine van der Mersch but she was with him when he died on December 18, 1999 of natural causes. He was 98.