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France 76m, B&W
Director: Robert Bresson; Cast: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri, Pierre Leymarie, Dolly Scal, Henri Kassagi
Pickpocket is a voyeuristic look at the life of a thief who becomes obsessed at the art and act of pick pocketing. Shadowed by the police, after being accused but not prosecuted due to a lack of evidence, we follow Michel as he perfects his craft and meets Jeanne, a beautiful young woman who takes an interest in him and his dying mother. Narrated by Michel in a form which resembles a confessional – the film has a pseudo-documentary feel which brings the audience into the criminal underworld of the expert pickpocket and the compulsions of its main character (Klaus Ming January 2012).
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Of all the “great” French directors Bresson bothers me the most. I’ve seen three of his films and have concluded that his approach to acting is extraordinarily detrimental — he WANTS his actors to act without emotion, like zombies, he repeated takes over and over and over again so his actors would just go through the motions… Did you find that bothersome in this work?
I’ve seen A Man Escaped, Au Hasard Balthazar, and this one (although I remember the other much better)…. A Man Escaped is probably the best of the bunch…
You’re right about that. I hadn’t really thought about the lack of emotion. But that makes sense now. Having just read a little more about the making of the film, apparently the actors were not actors (which would in part explain the wooden performances).
I didn’t particularly like this film, except for its voyeuristic theme – and the actual pick pocketing (which was pretty cool). His relationships with his mother and Jeanne were pretty uninspired.