Without Actors, Roles and Characters: “Money” as Example of Bresson’s “True Story”

Andrzej Michalski

Abstract

Michalski makes a structural analysis of Bresson’s film Money. He takes note of a surprising and seemingly inconsequent narrative line, which develops plots attributed to certain characters, and then abandons them without a clear reason. Michalski says that to grasp the meaning of the film, one has to pick up the recurring pattern of picture and sound juxtapositions out of the whole: surprise – introduction of a key event – confirmation. The scheme gains importance only in retrospect, from the point of view of ending. From this point of view the story of only one character is told from beginning to end; this is a story of Yvon who bore the most devastating consequences of putting into circulation a forged banknote. However, there is no continuity in the story, which is not told directly but through a series of superimpositions of seemingly minor and insignificant sequences of shots. The series of events inevitably causes irreversible changes in his life. But Yvon’s final decision to surrender to the police proves that there is a chance for a twist of fate at the price of self-destruction.