Bresson's brilliant adaptation of Dostoevsky's short story (A Gentle Creature) exhibits in its lapidary sequences the political and existential revolt of a young student in Paris. Sharing a theme that can be traced from Bresson's Mouchette to his fantastic exploration of revolutionary choices in The Devil Probably, Une Femme Douce articulates in its inimitable minimalist mode a range of issues from the ideological options of France post-May '68 to human relationships. Dominique Sanda is not the conventional, recognizable student revolutionary, but a "gentle" philosopher whose powers of sensitivity and social scrutiny exceed and tease the prosaic, crude disposition of her bourgeois husband.





The young wife leaps to her death at the very beginning of "Une Femme Douce." The action is then mostly played out in flashbacks, the husband speaking to the maidservant while standing or kneeling over his wife's dead body. That body may produce mixed reactions. It is distressingly in evidence, and the cuts to it are sometimes shocking. Much of the past action takes place in and around the bed on which the corpse now lies and, because Bresson provides no bridges, you are never sure whether the film will cut to a living wife or a dead one. Nevertheless, the corpse is the residue of something that has escaped, and for that escape we must be glad. At the very end, the husband, a pawnbroker who has helped drive his wife to suicide, begs her to look at him once more. But in Bresson's world a direct look is always a speaking between souls, and this is precisely the sign that can no longer be given.

Just before the young woman's death the audience is given some signs for itself, momentary scenes: the woman's smile in her mirror, her fierce and happy eyes at the door to her balcony, the balcony furniture toppling slowly over, her shawl floating to the ground. Anyone familiar with Bresson will recognize a continuity between these signs and the lovely intimations of grace in his earlier films. You must watch closely. That smile, the film's only smile, lasts a second or two; but in the cinema of Bresson, such seconds are what we go to the movies for.

"Une Femme Douce" is adapted from a Dostoevski novella. Bresson has kept the novella's basic situation and changed everything else. His gentle woman wants to escape not just her husband (as Dostoevski's does) but the very idea of marriage, the tedium of typical life patterns and even the historical continuity of biological forms—by which her bone structure partially reproduces the bone structure of animals long extinct and her nude body duplicates nude bodies throughout the history of painting. Bresson has placed his action in present-day Paris. And he brings in the "modern world"—by which I mean he arbitrarily shows cars, airplanes and race horses on a television screen and introduces the sound of traffic outside the couple's bedroom.

But his world remains mysterious. The pawning of objects, and the paying of money for them, is presented as a secret joint admission of guilt. Empty stairways, doors, street corners repeatedly suggest the absence of the people who have just passed through them. And on her wedding night the new wife simply runs from closet to bath to bed—to indicate (without expression) what there is of pleasure and passion before that fateful smile. Of course there are lesser and greater Bresson films. I think "Une Femme Douce" belongs among the greater ones. The usual language of critical praise seems beside the point in discussing Bresson, but please understand that I mean this to be a rave review. (NYT)



This is an upgrade of FNB47's publication. The source is still the New Yorker VHS, but this rip has a better resolution and a higher bitrate. The original rip consisted of 2 CD's and a VBR audio remuxed by svankbinder. I've changed the audio to CBR and joined the two CD's. This is the best version available for this film, a DVD seems distant due to legal problems.





Sin dejar explicación alguna a su marido, una joven se suicida. Entenderemos sus motivos en un flash-back, el cual rememorará desde el momento en el que se conocieron hasta ver las escenas en las que él la intenta someter, disgustándola hasta el punto de hacerle considerar la posiblidad de asesinarlo, pero inexplicablemente, a pesar de la asfixia a la que es sometida, no se ve capacitada para cometer tal acto. Basada en un cuento de Dostoievski.





Un jeune époux devant le cadavre de sa femme qui vient de se suicider se remémore leur vie passée, essaie de trouver les raisons de son geste. "Je voudrais prier, dit-il, et je ne peux que penser." Quand il l'a rencontrée, c'était une toute jeune fille très pauvre qui venait lui vendre quelques menus objets dans sa boutique de prêt sur gages. Peu après, il lui avait demandé sa main lui faisant miroiter tout ce que sa riche situation pouvait lui apporter. Elle avait accepté, mais très vite l'incompatibilité des deux caractères s'était révélée. Lui ne pensait qu'à gagner de l'argent. Elle passait son temps à collectionner disques et livres. Il l'emmenait au cinéma, au théâtre, mais une muraille de silence les séparait un peu plus irrémédiablement chaque jour. Le drame commença vraiment quand il devint jaloux. Il mena sa propre enquête, qui le conduisit boulevard Lannes où il l'a surprise dans une voiture en compagnie d'un jeune homme. Mais d'après les paroles qu'il put entendre, sa femme était en train de repousser habilement les avances de son compagnon. Le mari n'avait-il pas eu tort de soupçonner sa femme ? Il la ramène chez lui. Alors qu'elle le croit endormi, elle prend son revolver et le pointe vers son visage. Elle ne tire pas. Mais avait-elle vraiment voulu le tuer. La question se pose au mari qui décide de faire chambre à part. Une incertitude insupportable règne maintenant entre les deux époux. La jeune femme entre dans une phase dépressive qu'elle ne quittera plus. Au cours de sa maladie, le mari réfléchit et s'accuse de n'avoir pas su comprendre sa femme. Il le lui dit, ajoute qu'il fera tout pour son bonheur. Ils vont quitter Paris, voyager. C'est à ce moment-là que la jeune femme commet l'irréparable, en mettant fin à ses jours.





hyt