Actor portrays their own psychological conflicts on stage or camera — catharsis through role-play. Bresson and Pasolini exploit genuine emotional states over technique.
When you place an actor in front of the camera who is currently experiencing their own conflicts, something happens that fundamentally differs from classical acting. Psychodrama doesn't work with interpretation, but with emotional authenticity through self-representation—the performer brings their real psychological states into the scene. The healing effect arises from the catharsis of the role-playing itself, not from the illusion of a character.
Robert Bresson utilized this consistently. His non-professional performers—the "models," as he called them—were not supposed to act, but to be. In "Au Hasard Balthazar" or "Une Femme Douce", Bresson, through repetitive shooting, extreme proximity to the camera, and emotional disorientation, forced the actors into a state where their psychological resistances broke down. The result: no actor's performance, but raw emotional reality. Pasolini followed a similar path, but consciously employed inexperienced people to capture the social and psychological truth of a scene—not aesthetic perfection.
On set, this means for you as a director: you create conditions under which the performer's psychological material becomes visible. This is radically different from coaching a performance. You provoke emotional states through repetition, confusion, or direct intrusion into personal boundaries—always with the assumption that the authenticity of the inner state is more important than the technical accuracy of the portrayal. The camera then documents what happens; it doesn't film what is being acted.
The risks are obvious: psychological strain, traumatization, ethical gray areas. Modern psychodrama work in directing therefore requires a clear understanding that you are not a therapist—you are merely using the method of self-exposure for aesthetic truth. The difference from cruel exploitation lies in the fact that the performer consciously consents to this process and their own healing (or awareness) is part of the artistic contract.