[3] Among the fundamental filmmaking principles advocated for in the book, Bresson argues that "cinematography" (French: le cinématographe) is the highest, even a transcendent, function of cinema.
While a conventional movie is in essence "only" filmed theatre that privileges the performances of "actors", cinematography is an attempt to create a new language of moving images and sounds that incorporates what he calls "models" instead of actors.
He succinctly defines the difference between the two: HUMAN MODELS: movement from the exterior to the interior...
He was notorious for requiring his models to repeat lines dozens of times until all "acting" was drained from them.
"[4] Publishers Weekly wrote in 1986: "The casual but succinct observations, presented here three or four to a page, consist of short paragraphs or single sentences.