A Gentle Woman

Robert Bresson ventures into the area of loveless marriage with this film. An older man falls for a young woman who does not love him, in fact she doesn't seem to feel much of anything, she's just gentle. She turns him down at first, but persistance eventually pays off and she marries him. He desires her and her youthful beauty and pursues her in way that is slightly similar (though less comic) than the main relationship in Luis Bunuel's masterpiece, That Obscure Object of Desire. By the end, he has won her body, but she is sent into a depression that leads her to commit suicide (which is seen in beautifully poetic juxtaposition). Ultimately, it is one of Bresson's less satisfying works, which nevertheless has some qualities to be admired.