The Knight of the Lake

The Knight of the Lake - 2002-07-27. Director: Robert Bresson. Cast: Luc Simon, Laura Duke Condominas, Humbert Balsan. Produced in France/Italy, 1974, color, 83 minutes. "The Knight of the Lake" possesses such a breadth of vision and clarity of style that it qualifies as a contemporary masterpiece by a prominent artist. The film's subject is the end of the knightly era and the death of this dream. The film is set in the final days of the quest for the Holy Grail (which we refer to in Persian as 'Jam Jam'), and it attempts to depict the spiritual defeat that overcame King Arthur's knights after they realized their efforts were in vain. The masterful color cinematography of this film vividly portrays the shining armor of these warriors as they are surrounded on all sides by a dark and dangerous forest, evoking the chiaroscuro of a dying era. At first glance, this film may seem somewhat heavy and unbelievable, but it should be noted that Bresson's cinema is fundamentally intellectual and thus cannot be evaluated by the standards of commercial films. Nevertheless, like other Bresson films, which number no more than ten in total, this film also contains many points for deep reflection in the final analysis.