{"id":19717,"date":"2011-09-20T02:10:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-20T09:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19717"},"modified":"2021-01-30T12:28:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T19:28:52","slug":"lancelot-of-the-lake-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19717","title":{"rendered":"Lancelot of the Lake (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;It was not the Grail; it was God you all wanted.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Poster-221x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Poster-221x300.jpg 221w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Poster-94x128.jpg 94w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nUpon return from a fruitless quest for the Holy Grail, Sir Lancelot (Luc Simon) tries to break off his affair with Queen Guinevere (Laura Duke Condominas) and prepares for battle with his arch-enemy Mordred (Patrick Bernard).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Medieval Times<\/li>\n<li>Robert Bresson Films<\/li>\n<li>Royalty and Nobility<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs I&#8217;ve noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13224\">other<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12497\">reviews<\/a>, I&#8217;ll admit to a strong bias against Robert Bresson&#8217;s highly stylized approach to filmmaking, in which his actors are explicitly directed to remain expressionless, and Bresson&#8217;s own thematically enriched visuals take center stage. While I admire his intentions with this unique approach to the subject matter here (simply check out some of the lengthy user comments on IMDb for a sense of the strategic points he was apparently hoping to make), I&#8217;m much more in favor of Eric Rohmer&#8217;s <em>alternatively<\/em> stylized take on the same period and historical figures (<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=17193\">1978&#8217;s <em>Perceval<\/em><\/a>). With that said, there&#8217;s still quite a bit here for all film fanatics (including my own grouchy self) to enjoy and appreciate &#8212; such as the power of Bresson&#8217;s strategically &#8220;cubic&#8221; representations of armored body parts, etc., through which one does quickly get a sense of the dreary oppression that dominated this bloodiest of eras. Indeed, the visuals are consistently inventive; all the more shame, then, that his narrative &#8212; about guilt and love and shame and God (I think?) &#8212; remains so frustratingly opaque. True fans of Bresson will be enamored by <em>Lancelot du Lac<\/em>; others will simply grow weary and long for clarity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An effectively stylized rendering of medieval England and Arthurian legend<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Imagery.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Imagery.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19721\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Imagery.png 608w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Imagery-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Imagery-300x189.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine, authentic sets and costumes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Sets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"608\" height=\"384\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19722\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Sets.png 608w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Sets-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Lancelot-du-Lac-Sets-300x189.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though naturally Bresson fans will want to check it out. Listed as a Cult Movie in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0071737\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=461\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/lancelot.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1974\/10\/01\/archives\/film-festival-lancelota-bresson-spectacle-inspired-by-malory.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/lancelot-du-lac\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It was not the Grail; it was God you all wanted.&#8221; Synopsis: Upon return from a fruitless quest for the Holy Grail, Sir Lancelot (Luc Simon) tries to break off his affair with Queen Guinevere (Laura Duke Condominas) and prepares for battle with his arch-enemy Mordred (Patrick Bernard). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: French Films Historical Drama Medieval Times Robert Bresson Films Royalty and Nobility Review: As I&#8217;ve noted in other reviews, I&#8217;ll admit to a strong bias against Robert&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19717\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19717"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67071,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19717\/revisions\/67071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}