Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped was the 'most formative experience' for his understanding of the essay film, the film that 'opened up a third path' beyond documentary and fiction.
In the 1920s there was a very strong development of theory in Russia, Eisenstein, Vertov, Kuleshov. These were very fundamental developments, much more fundamental than what came after, say, in France after the Second World War.
Robert Bresson's Un Condamné à mort s'est échappé was the 'most formative experience' for his understanding of the essay film, 'opening up a third path' beyond documentary and fiction.