zorg wrote: Wed Aug 03, 2022 11:46 amI like me some Bresson, but this one felt a little too lazy and loose-limbed for me, and left me feeling like I was watching Monty Python's Holy Grail...but without the jokes. I think I gave up caring when one of the knights was clearly wearing jeans under his armor.
As mentioned, it's an acquired taste, fine if someone doesn't take a shine to it. I think if one goes into
Lancelot du Lac expecting a dramatic, pulse-pounding take on the Arthurian legends, they will leave disappointed, even if the film
does sport some well executed jousting and sword-fighting scenes.
The film is centered on a certain disillusionment and listlessness that can settle in when a goal isn't reached. The Knights of the Round Table have failed to find the Holy Grail, several of them have perished in the process, and now the survivors have returned home with no path forward. In-fighting ensues in the absence of clear objectives and earthly heroics. The girl-to-guy ratio is off, so the knights can't help but covet Guinevere, even if most of them won't openly admit it.
With a dearth of music the knights are shown suited up in armor that creaks and bogs them down just as much as it protects them. They aren't quite emasculated, but they're also not embodying the swashbuckling stuff of fantasy most of the time--everything is grounded in scope, austere, and at times there's a frailty at hand, which comes into the fore more when someone bleeds out profusely. Thinking back on it, it's surprising the film got made as such characteristics make it seem uncommercial. Thankfully it's shot well (something more evident in the new blu-ray), not overlong, and well paced. But as worthwhile as it might be, I wouldn't put
Lancelot du Lac on the shortlist of Bresson films to recommend to someone who hasn't seen any before.