Abstract
This thesis analyses and compares the religious and metaphysical philosophy of Simone Weil (1909-1943) with the cinema of auteur director, Robert Bresson (1901-1999), especially, in relation to their mutual concern regarding the soul in affliction. I argue that by understanding the contribution of Weil and Bresson, this knowledge may assist in learning that attention toward the soul will help to transcend the force of affliction experienced in one’s life. The methodological framework is based on Weil’s philosophical concepts, in particular, attachment, detachment, attention, affliction, decreation, necessity, and justice. I elucidate these concepts through the analysis of a select group of Bresson’s films. In my exploration, I show that in the cinematograph, Bresson’s approach converges with Weil’s philosophy as far as the natural (necessity) and the supernatural (divine grace) or God’s love are concerned. The analysis of specific scenes demonstrates Bresson’s emphasis on reality (the supernatural, as opposed to unreality or the natural), divination, and automatism, to reveal the force of affliction Weil asks us to transcend by way of attention. I suggest that Weil’s philosophy is a conscious practice which can be adapted to each individual soul. Here I draw on my experience of affliction, in addition to Bresson’s protagonists, Saint Augustine’s The Confessions, the BCE Hindu Scripture: The Bhagavad Gītā, and Homer’s Iliad or The Poem of Force; also, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and the “Great Beast” in the Republic. This thesis argues that while the protagonists in Bresson’s films may be taken as figures for one or other of Weil’s concepts, the latter must be considered as “progressive,” namely: as each concept is first learned and then practiced, the soul only thus is reoriented to move closer toward its reunion with God, the creator.