Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
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Les dames du Bois de Boulogne is a 1945 film directed by Robert Bresson. It is a modern adaptation of a section of Diderot's Jacques le fataliste (1796), telling the story of a man who is tricked into marrying a former prostitute. The title means "the ladies of the Bois de Boulogne", which is a park in Paris.
Les Dames was Bresson's second feature and is an early example of his dramatic experimentation and innovations in reducing dramatic form to its bare essentials, signifying his status as an auteur, rather than simply a metteur en scène. It is also his last film to feature a cast entirely composed of professional actors. The film's editing rhythms are similar to Bresson's later work. However, while his later work often reflects Bresson's personal Catholic beliefs and Christian-intellectual mentality, Les Dames is a more secular work. The redemptive ending is more secular than spiritual although it does establish Bresson's later, more refined, thematic obsessions with redemption and salvation.
