Dir: Robert Bresson | Scr: Robert Bresson | Ph: L.H. Burel | Prod: Agnès Delahaie | Ed: Raymond Lamy | PD: Pierre Charbonnier | Snd: Antoine Archimbaud | Cast: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri, Dolly Scal, Pierre Leymarie, Kassagi, Pierre Étaix, César Gattegno
With his neglected, seldom visited mother lying on her death bed, a furtive young man, for ever clad in an ill-fitting suit, hesitantly takes to pickpocketing in order to make ends meet. However, when he teams up with a more experienced thief, he quickly becomes more adept, ambitious, and blatant, despite the close attentions of a police inspector, his disapproving best friend, and his mother’s pretty-but-put-upon teenaged neighbour. With lively, kinetic mise en scène and relatively expressive performances, this is atypical Bresson. Never the less, there is more than enough existential angst and potent imagery to keep the great French auteur’s most ardent devotees happy.
