Lancelot du Lac (1974)
Directed by Robert Bresson

Film Review

In Lancelot du Lac, Bresson offers a hauntingly minimalist treatment of the Arthurian legend.  Stripping the story to its bare essentials and focusing on the human souls rather than their heroic exploits, the film makes a striking contrast with those which offer the more familiar view of the subject.

Most films which recount the exploits of Arthur and his gallant knights reduce the story to a fantasy fable of heroism and adventure.  Bresson's film is quite different.  It gives a far more realistic picture of life at the time of King Arthur, with all its barren austerity, brutality, superstition and pain.

One of the reasons for the film's impact  is Bresson's own inimitable approach to film making, famous for its austerity and total lack of theatricality.  Bresson is particularly effective here because in this film the subject lends itself so naturally to his style.  One of Bresson's devices is to use strong sounds (often from action supposedly happening out of camera) to complement mundane or ambiguous images.  This works well in this film because Bresson has a wealth of sounds to bring into his film - the clanking of steel armour, the tread of horse hooves, the creaking of solid wooden doors, and much more.  This richness of sound restores the emotion which Bresson actively drove out of his actors' performances, creating a bizarre anti-theatrical style where the actors appear inactive and muted whilst the set is alive and active.

Film Synopsis

Their number reduced through countless skirmishes in their quest for the Holy Grail, the knights of the Round Table return to Camelot, weary and defeated.  A mood of pessimism hangs over the court of King Arthur, which is not helped by the rift that is developing between the king and the ambitious Mordred, who secretly covets the throne.  Believing that his failure in his quest was divine retribution for his love affair with the queen, Guinevere, Lancelot begins to lose his faith.

Whilst Gawain, the king's nephew, remains adamant that the quest for the Grail should continue, Mordred plots in secret to discredit Lancelot, Arthur's favourite.  Going against the wishes of his beloved Guinevere, Lancelot enters a jousting tournament and emerges triumphant.  Weakened by his injuries, he is unable to make his way back to the castle.  A peasant woman finds him and tends to his wounds.

Meanwhile, Mordred manages to convince the King of his wife's infidelity.  In the ensuing bloody confrontation between those knights who are loyal to Lancelot and those who support Mordred Gawain is killed.  To prevent further bloodshed, the queen and her lover agree to give up their affair, and for this act they are both pardoned by the King.  But the fighting continues, with Mordred now more determined than ever to destroy Lancelot and all those who remain faithful to him...