Pickpocket (1959)

Directed by

Robert Bresson

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 15m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 569 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A man who steals wallets struggles with his compulsion despite the efforts of friends and a detective to help him change. The film follows his quiet descent into a life of crime and his aching search for connection.

contemplativeaustererestrainedtensemelancholicobservationalsparseunderstated

What happens

Pickpocket is a 1959 French film written and directed by Robert Bresson. It stars Martin LaSalle, in his feature film debut, in the title role, and features Marika Green, Pierre Leymarie, and Jean Pélégri in supporting roles. It features a pickpocket who is drawn to crime, despite the intercession of his family, his friends, and even an empathetic policeman. The film is generally considered to be one of Bresson's greatest films. Along with A Gentle Woman and Four Nights of a Dreamer, it is one of three Bresson movies heavily influenced by the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Bresson's favorite author. It combines elements of Crime and Punishment's Rodion Raskolnikov (who questions whether moral rules should apply to superior men) with a street-crime plot inspired by Samuel Fuller's film Pickup on South Street (1953). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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