Interpretation Specifics of the Plot-Driven Imagery of Works from Russian Literature of the 19th Century in Robert Bresson’s Cinematographic Work
This article contains a comparative analysis of cinematic interpretation peculiarities of plot-driven imagery elements of the literary works “White Nights” and “The Meek” by F. M. Dostoevsky and “The Fake Coupon” by L. N. Tolstoy in the films “The Meek”, “Four Nights of a Dreamer” and “Money” created by Robert Bresson, an outstanding French director of the 20th century. The works of Russian literary classics of the 19th century were of great importance for European culture in the 20th century and acquired various forms of interpretation in European theater and cinema. In particular, they were adapted in a special way by Robert Bresson in his specific film adaptation by F. Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy. The article notes that Bresson’s adaptations are the author’s original interpretation of the classical texts of Russian literature. For his productions, the director selects the texts of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, their problems of Christian reincarnation of man and social escapism being close to him. At the same time, Bresson radically transforms the plot-driven imagery of literary primary sources of his films in accordance with individual ideological and artistic-aesthetic attitudes: he minimizes the author’s imagery of expressing the characters’ traits, focuses on the subject-material world surrounding them, gives significance to the hidden subtext of the action. The results of this study are important for a deeper and more accurate understanding of Robert Bresson’s work, for understanding the multiplicity of nuances of the relationship between fiction and cinema, which can be expressed in a special type of individual author’s film adaptation of literary classics. They are important for realizing significance of the influence of the 19th century writers works on the 20th century cinematography and significance of intercultural relations of Russian artistic culture and culture of France.