Pickpocket (dir. Robert Bresson, 1959)
Pickpocket’s lead Michel (Martin LaSalle) has striking looks. He’s handsome like a statue but what’s most remarkable about him is his gaze. He seems almost blank with his guarded body language. Eyes are the mirror of the soul; it’s the eyes and LaSalle’s way of watching that unveil the hidden excitement and suspense in Michel.
When I saw Pickpocket, I had woken up in the middle of the night - I couldn’t get any more sleep so I decided to watch a movie from local TV’s internet broadcasting service. My plan was to watch it for a while and then try sleeping again. But from the very beginning of Pickpocket, I was hooked.
Pickpocket tells the story of - well - a pickpocket. Michel lives with nothing in a sad little room in Paris. He’s lonely, he doesn’t have money, his mother is sick. And then he starts pickpocketing. He has nothing and thievery starts to fill his life.
The movie is a true gem. It says little but shows much with it’s magnificent cinematography. There's something quite Chekhov-y about the film that is loosely based on Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment: it's the simple plot and the way it peeks into the life of this interesting individual and pickpocketing. The importance of atmosphere - which is masterfully achieved - and not trying to tell the whole story but just the part of it.
This is one of the masterpieces of cinema.
This is one of the masterpieces of cinema.
