FilmClub is screening Robert Bresson’s film, A Man Escaped, at the Tatham Art Gallery in Chief Albert Luthuli Street, Pietermaritzburg at 7 pm on Tuesday, March 22.

Although he made only thirteen films during his forty-year career, few of which were commercially successful, Robert Bresson is widely recognised and celebrated as the director whose work has, perhaps more than that of any other single artist, shaped the stylistic course of contemporary world cinema.

Over the course of his career, Bresson evolved a highly personal style in which any character, incident, location or object not considered essential to his pursuit of what he called ‘lucidity’, is banished from the film.

A Man Escaped recounts the true story of a member of the French resistance, who escaped from Montluc prison in Lyon just a few hours before he was due to be executed.

The title intentionally reveals the outcome, yet the film generates and maintains suspense through closely observing processes and rituals, rather than through narrative surprise.

Using incisive imagery, often close-up, in which each shot and each sound on the soundtrack is chosen with the greatest possible care, Bresson takes us into the mind and heart of his protagonist and, transcending mere stylistic formalism, is able to reveal profound truths about the nature of free will and the impact of chance on our lives.

As usual, entry is R35 per person and The Tatham Coffee shop will be offering a soup and bread supper from 6pm onwards (at a very reasonable R40 per person). Safe parking will be available in the government parking lot next to the gallery.