The Wells Film Society

Most of the best films/movies ever made are pre-1990; many, pre-1960; some pre-1940. We show the best. Great directors from any decade and country (Renoir, Ophüls, Hawks, Almodóvar, Reed, Bergman, Ray, Wilder, Ozu, Truffaut, Hitchcock, Buñuel, Visconti, Tarkovsky, Powell & Pressburger, ...). Full-size silver screen at the Wells Film Centre. every 4 weeks throughout the year.

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Site updated: 11 Jan 2012

What’s it about?

In my view this may be the most remarkable film so far in our 2011-12 year. I hope to see it twice. Where else anywhere near could you even once? In French, with English subtitles.

As you would perhaps expect, about a pickpocket, Lasalle: how he is forced to it, how he develops his skills, how he changes when he meets a woman, and about his redemption.

It’s by Bresson (not Henri Cartier-Bresson, the master photographer), none of whose films, shamefully, we have seen before.

What some have said:

1001, "among the most perfect examples of Bresson’s style ... one of those pictures that completely changes one’s understanding of what cinema is or can be.”

RT: “... it is Bresson’s control over his cast, the Parisian locations and austere black-and-white imagery that makes [sic] this extraordinary film so compelling.” 4*.

VFG: “... a wonderful study of a criminal on the way to redemption ... ” 4*.

EFG: “Bresson hired a genuine dipper [pickpocket] ... to teach Lasalle the tricks of the trade ... acclaimed as one of Bresson's masterpieces ...” 5*.

Louis Malle: “... a film of lightning newness ...”

Some on-line reviews: IMDB, Wikipedia.

(TOFG, VFG, 1001, EFG, H1000, RT, BN100, DP, NYFCC, DT, ...? What do these acronyms mean?)

Pickpocket Parental guidance

Robert Bresson, 1959, Fr, 75 mins, b/w.