The disparity in Ozu’s films is primarily internal: man cannot find nature within himself. The disparity in Bresson’s films is primarily external: man cannot live harmoniously with his hostile environment. In Ozu, there are no futile protests against the frailty of the body and the hostility of the environment, as in Bresson. In Bresson, there is no resigned acceptance of environment, as in Ozu.

The decisive action in Ozu’s films is a communal event between the members of a family or neighborhood. The decisive action in Bresson’s films is limited to a lonely figure pitted against a hostile environment. Bresson stands in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the single redeemer: Moses, Christ, the priests, saints, and mystics who each in his own life righted man with the world. Ozu does not structure his films around a specific Christ or a specific Calvary. In Ozu’s films a number of characters can participate in the Transcendent through a number of decisive actions.

The differences between Ozu and Bresson are unified in stasis, the culmination of transcendental style. The Wholly Other, once perceived, cannot be limited by culture.