When
Wed 15 Mar 2023
Bresson’s massively influential tale (inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment) of a pickpocket (the intense Martin LaSalle) who finds hard-won redemption through love is a startlingly pure and austere religious allegory. Léonce-Henri Burel’s precise cinematography focuses with mesmeric intensity on the ballet-like play of nimble hands and stoic faces, building towards a work of overwhelming emotional and cinematic impact: “with theft I entered by the back door into the kingdom of morality” (Bresson). With Pierre Étaix.
Also screening on Wed 15 March
Program
Model and Soul: The uncompromising cinema of Robert Bresson
Une Femme Douce (1969) –Wed 1 Mar, 7pm
Mouchette (1967) – Wed 1 Mar, 8.45pm
Les Anges du Peche (1943) – Wed 8 Mar, 7pm
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – Wed 8 Mar, 8.45pm
Pickpocket (1959) – Wed 15 Mar, 7pm
Diary of a Country Priest (1951) – Wed 15 Mar, 8.30pm
About the program
Although Robert Bresson (1901–99) made only 13 features over 40 years, there is perhaps no other body of work in cinema history more marked by a director’s personality, sensibility or style...
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About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
