Robert Bresson

Cinematic Style as Philosophy

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by Robert B. Pippin

Type

Studies

Subject

Director > Robert Bresson

Keywords

Robert Bresson, theory, philosophy, France

Publishing date

2026 (January 19, 2026)

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 176 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-0-226-84502-9

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Book Presentation:
A philosophical engagement with Bresson’s many films, attentive to more than their religiosity.

Over a forty-year career, Robert Bresson developed one of the most distinctive cinematic styles in the history of filmmaking. Criticizing conventional movies as “filmed theater,” Bresson proposed instead a way of writing with images, which he called “cinematographs.” Robert B. Pippin argues here for a way of understanding how these stylistic innovations express a range of philosophical commitments, explorations of the possible sources of meaning in late modern life, and the implications of the absence of such sources.

About the Author:
Robert B. Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many books on philosophy, literature, art, and film.

Press Reviews:
"This lucid, scintillating book deepens Pippin’s exploration of cinema’s capacity for ‘filmed thought’ and challenges transcendental interpretations of the great French director’s oeuvre. Pippin identifies ethical, psychological, and philosophical commitments that underpin Bresson’s distinctive minimalism, approach to performance, and concern for meaning. Beautifully illustrated and full of provocative insights, there is much here for both Bresson aficionados and those seeking an introduction to the inimitable films and worldview of Robert Bresson." -- Jonathan Hourigan, assistant to Robert Bresson on L’Argent

"This singularly beautiful account of Bresson’s oeuvre asks us to say less about the films and to instead learn to live with their strange, ordinary clarity—ultimately, to live with each other just as we live with these films. Pippin has done, in my view, what only filmmakers have done before: respond to the power of Bresson in aesthetically sensitive ways that remind us how intensely moving it always is to see and feel his films for the first time." -- Brian Price, University of Toronto Mississauga

See the publisher website: University of Chicago Press

See the complete filmography of Robert Bresson on the website: IMDB ...