Face-Off: Robert Bresson vs. Christopher Nolan

“I spent a lot of time reviewing the silent films for crowd scenes –the way extras move, evolve, how the space is staged and how the cameras capture it, the views used,” Nolan tells Premiere Magazine. The director revealed that he brushed up on silent films such as Intolerance, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and Greed, as well as the films of Robert Bresson (notably Pickpocket and A Man Escaped, to dissect the process of creating suspense through details)..." -according to thefilmstage.com

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Robert Bresson once said about Pickpocket: "I'd rather people feel a film before understanding it. I'd rather feelings arise before intellect."

In Tenet Clémence Poésy's character says: "Don't try to understand it. Feel it."

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With elements show below, it could be argued that in the Tenet quote, Nolan wasn't simply making a statement to defend' his films' exposition sequences. He made an act of allegiance to Bresson's theory on the cinematograph.

Could Nolan be in some way considered a Bressonian filmmaker? It is probably a stretch. Yet, Pickpocket (1959) and Following (1998) do share similarities.

List: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls538465112/