Part of the BAMcinématek series Bresson
Sun, April 15, 2012 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Directed by Robert Bresson
With Martin LaSalle
(1959) 75min, 35mm
At a racetrack, a man with haunted eyes (LaSalle) unlatches a woman’s purse and covertly pockets the money—an addiction-inducing thrill that descends into petty crime—recorded by Bresson with an almost sensual attention to the tactile. Exploring themes of spiritual emptiness and salvation, and with voiceover narration by the protagonist, this Dostoevskyian tale of crime and punishment served as avowed Bresson disciple Paul Schrader’s model for the Taxi Driver screenplay. “Achieves a state of spiritual grace rarely seen, or even contemplated, in the secular medium of cinema” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times).
