It's about expressing yourself

Life The Philosophy of Film course ended tonight and it's left me in a slightly melancholic mood because I wished it could have continued for another ten weeks. There was never enough time for Tutor John to cover everything he wanted to say, although sometimes the clips he showed us expressed the idea or mood perfectly. What he's been explaining to us for ten weeks is that the really great films and by the extension the great film makers aren't about the business of making money. It's about expressing yourself, your own ideas in a meaningful way and hoping that people respond to them (sound familiar?). So when director Robert Bresson strips away everything but the image in telling his story, it's because that's the way this thing works for him. Some viewers might not like, might find it cold, but that's OK, because to use a wierd comparison, film is a broad church and not everything is going to be universally loved.