Not surprisingly, Bresson's stripped-to-the-bone adaptation eschews the traditionally heroic, spectacular, fabulous, and exaltedly romantic aspects of the legendary saga in order to lay bare the confusion and pain within the human soul.
Lancelot of the Lake(Lancelot du Lac)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, Italy · 1974
1h 25m
Director Robert Bresson
Starring Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan, Vladimir Antolek-Oresek
Genre Drama, Romance, War
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Having failed in their quest for the Holy Grail, the knights of the Round Table return to Camelot, their number reduced to a mere handful. Seeing a rift developing between Lancelot and Mordred, Arthur urges his knights to bury their differences and become friends. However, the king is unaware that Lancelot is having an affair with his queen, Guinevere. Lancelot is torn between his duty to his king and his love for the queen, whilst Mordred is determined to use his infidelity to destroy him.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Paying attention to religious impulses which are all but incomprehensible in the 20th Century, Bresson conjures up a God-bothered middle ages that is harrowing but not, it must be said, terribly exciting.
The New York Times by Vincent Canby
What's missing from the film is any urgent interior meaning, and this it may be because of the distractions of the exterior details. It may also be because the conflicts that rage within Lancelot — between duty and desire, courtly love and physical love — simply aren't complex enough to bring out the best in Mr. Bresson.
Slant Magazine by Zach Campbell
Because Bresson’s cinematic personality is as deliberate and clean as it is, the viewer is tempted to chalk up the bizarre and moving experience of watching Lancelot du Lac to some latent spirituality or grace.
Users who liked this film also liked
A Clockwork Orange
The adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, United States • 1971
- Director Stanley Kubrick
- Cast Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, James Marcus
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, AMC on Demand
The Seventh Seal
(Det sjunde inseglet)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden • 1957
- Director Ingmar Bergman
- Cast Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson, Erik Strandmark
- Genre Fantasy, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
The Passion of Joan of Arc
(La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc)
The 15th-century teenage warrior Joan of Arc takes on the French church.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1928
- Director Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Cast Maria Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud, Michel Simon
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, FlixFling, TCM, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Tubi TV
Taste of Cherry
(طعم گيلاس)
A middle-aged man, Mr. Badii, seeks someone to bury him after he commits suicide.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Iran, France • 1997
- Director Abbas Kiarostami
- Cast Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari, Safar Ali Moradi, Mir Hossein Noori, Ahmad Ansari
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Kanopy
The Devil, Probably
(Le Diable probablement)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1977
- Director Robert Bresson
- Cast Antoine Monnier, Tina Irissari, Henri de Maublanc, Laetitia Carcano, Nicolas Deguy, Marie Rivière
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Madeline
In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines...
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 1998
- Director Daisy von Scherler Mayer
- Cast Hatty Jones, Frances McDormand, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Daniels, Arturo Venegas, Stéphane Audran
- Genre Comedy, Family
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Dogtooth
(Κυνόδοντας)
A teenager confined to a family compound with her siblings concocts an escape plan.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Greece • 2009
- Director Yorgos Lanthimos
- Cast Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Hristos Passalis, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou
- Genre Drama
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
(座頭市と用心棒)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1970
- Director Kihachi Okamoto
- Cast Shintarō Katsu, Toshirō Mifune, Ayako Wakao, Osamu Takizawa, Masakane Yonekura, Shin Kishida
- Genre Adventure, Action, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
Ordet
A Legend for Today
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark • 1955
- Director Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Cast Henrik Malberg, Birgitte Federspiel, Emil Hass Christensen, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Cay Kristiansen, Ejner Federspiel
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Stavisky...
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 1974
- Director Alain Resnais
- Cast Jean-Paul Belmondo, François Périer, Michael Lonsdale, Roberto Bisacco, Claude Rich, Charles Boyer
- Genre Crime
- Available on Kanopy
The 10th Victim
(La decima vittima)
It's the 21st century and they have a licence to kill.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1965
- Director Elio Petri
- Cast Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, Elsa Martinelli, Salvo Randone, Massimo Serato, Milo Quesada
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Night Flight Plus, FilmBox+, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Plex, Plex Channel
Under the Shadow
After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor says the missile was cursed.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom, Jordan, Qatar • 2016
- Director Babak Anvari
- Cast Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, Hamid Djavadan, Bijan Daneshmand
- Genre Drama, Horror, Thriller, War
- Available on Netflix, Hoopla, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store
Raw
(Grave)
When vegetarian Justine is forced to eat raw meat for the first time in her life, unexpected consequences occur.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Italy • 2016
- Director Julia Ducournau
- Cast Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Joana Preiss
- Genre Drama, Horror
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Servants
(Služobníci)
Czechoslovakia 1980: two novitiates in a Catholic seminary must decide whether or not to collaborate with the communist regime.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic • 2020
- Director Ivan Ostrochovský
- Cast Samuel Skyva, Samuel Polakovič, Milan Mikulčík, Vladimír Strnisko, Vlad Ivanov, Zvonko Lakčevič
- Genre Drama
- Available on Film Movement Plus, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy, Hoopla
Sadly not one of his better known films, but easily his most exciting in my opinion, no heroism just raging conflict