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When Robert Bresson, in his early 80s at the time, chose to adapt Leo Tolstoy’s short story “The Forged Coupon,” he crafted an efficient, taut film by using only the first part of Tolstoy’s tale, ending when Yvon, our central character, commits an act of horrific violence. Bresson doesn’t venture into Tolstoy’s second part, where, in prison, Yvon seeks redemption through religion. What we get, then, is L’argent, which translates directly to “money,” Bresson’s nihilistic, final film. Redemption doesn’t feel like a remote possibility. Bresson’s films are often bleak, but what’s surprising is that Bresson subverts all moments leaning toward grace in this brisk 84-minute film. Yet, for all its relentless darkness, L’argent is a wonder to behold, invigorating and challenging.

L’argent begins with Norbert, a Parisian teen, asking his father for his monthly allowance. Father looks up, pulls out the money,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSOver the weekend we lost two greats: Filmmaker George A. Romero, best known for inventing the modern version of all things zombie, and actor Martin Landau. Patton Oswalt has pointed out that a 19-year-old Romero worked as a pageboy on North by Northwest, Landau's second movie.The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has again added more names to its membership, and this latest batch includes even more unexpected additions from the world of international art cinema, including directors Pedro Costa, Lav Diaz, Ann Hui, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Kira Muratova, Johnnie To and Athina Rachel Tsangari.Did you see that the lineup of the Locarno Film Festival has been announced? With a huge retrospective devoted to Cat People director Jacques Tourneur and a competition including new films by Wang Bing, F.J. Ossang, Ben Russell,...

When looking at a director’s canon upon its completion and in its entirety, the final piece of work is more often than not a key text in the broader understanding of the respective oeuvre. Be it something as relatively modern as Robert Altman’s masterpiece A Prairie Home Companion or a classic gem like the underrated Fritz Lang picture The Thousand Eyes Of Doctor Mabuse, these career-capping works may not be the director’s greatest achievement, but they see the director at a defining moment in their career.

However, few “final films” may be as singularly important in a director’s career as the one that would close out Robert Bresson’s legendary life, L’argent.

Now available on Criterion DVD and Blu-ray, L’argent tells the story of not so much a living character as it does an entity that runs roughshot over the lives of many. Similar...

Welcome to the final film of the aesthetically precise, rigorously austere Robert Bresson, an adaptation of a fateful tale by Leo Tolstoy visualized in Bresson’s frequently maddening personal style. An extreme artist makes a fascinatingly unyielding show: as with the classic paintings that Bresson admires, appreciation requires special knowledge.

L’argent

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 886

1983 / Color / 1:85 anamorphic 16:9 / 85 min. / Money / Street Date July 11, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Christian Patey, Vincent Risterucci, Caroline Lang, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Báatrice Tabourin, Didier Baussy.

Cinematography: Pasqualino De Santis, Emmanuel Machuel

Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy

Film Editor: Jean-Francois Naudon

Written by Robert Bresson from a short story by Leo Tolstoy

Produced by Antoine Gannagé, Jean-Marc Henchoz, Daniel Toscan du Plantier

Written and Directed by Robert Bresson

Some movies need disclaimers, and many of the pictures of Robert Bresson could use a caption reading, ‘not for beginners.’ Bresson’s filmography includes the spiritually mysterious Diary of a Country Priest...

“We are still coming to terms with Robert Bresson, and the peculiar power and beauty of his films,” Martin Scorsese said in the 2010 book “A Passion For Film,” describing the often overlooked French filmmaker as “one of the cinema’s greatest artists.”

But while he may be revered by some as the finest French filmmaker bar Jean Renoir, outside hardcore cinephile circles he and his films are virtually unknown (perhaps regarded as too opaque or nebulous). Just consider the fact that almost every definitive book on the elusive director was published during the aughts to feel the full truth of Scorsese's statement about how we're still in the process of appreciating and understanding his life and work. Even Bresson’s actual birthdate is contested, adding further the ambiguities surrounding the director.

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen,” the meticulous Bresson once famously said, hinting at...