**
DVD Release
When I went to collect this film
from the DVD library at my university for my film course, the librarian asked
if I had been ‘warned’ about it. I responded with ‘Warned?’ to which he
replied: ‘Yes, it’s a bit… Err…’ So,
before I’d even started I was a little unsure what to expect, but I’d heard
that Robert Bresson was a good director, so I gave it ago.
Michel has been released from
prison after being arrested for thievery, only to find himself in a downward spiral
of further petty crimes after the death of his mother.
Basically, it’s just really
boring. Not a great deal happens for the majority of the film – we see Michel
(Martin Lasalle) pickpocketing people on the Metro, and then learning some new
tricks, and then pickpocketing people at a train station… and that’s about it.
Also, the lack of personal security in this film is deeply alarming – people seem
to have no awareness about their possessions, and Michel himself lacks a lock
on his door, which deeply irritated me. Bresson must have picked Lasalle on his
ability to stare, something of which there is a lot, but not a lot else as his
acting is so completely wooden. Marika Green, who plays the love-interest
Jeanne, isn’t much better and I spent most of her screen time pondering how
much she resembled Natalie Portman.
The camera work is perhaps the
greatest asset to the film – there are numerous and seamless shots of the hands
of the thieves as they pickpocket various Parisians, and Paris itself is wholly
unromanticised, much like the life of Michel. The short running time of 73
minutes definitely works in its favour as well – I’m not sure how much more
disjointed dialogue I could’ve endured.
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