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Pickpocket (1959)

Pickpocket (1959)
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Director Robert Bresson chose Uruguayan nonactor Martin LaSalle for his leading man in Pickpocket. LaSalle's inexperience works against the film for some viewers, though Bresson himself was satisfied because his star proved himself a quick study in the art of lifting wallets (a genuine pickpocket was engaged as "technical adviser"). Essentially, the story is a character study of a cocky young criminal who becomes so entranced by the act of picking pockets that he literally can't stop himself. The Bressonian technique of concentrating more on the mechanics of the plot than the emotions of the characters is, as always, a matter of taste. Filmed in 1959, Pickpocket was released in the US in 1963. Loosely inspired by Feodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Martin Lasalle, Marika Green, (more)
Director(s):
Robert Bresson
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of Pickpocket

Director Robert Bresson chose Uruguayan nonactor Martin LaSalle for his leading man in Pickpocket. LaSalle's inexperience works against the film for some viewers, though Bresson himself was satisfied because his star proved himself a quick study in the art of lifting wallets (a genuine pickpocket was engaged as "technical adviser"). Essentially, the story is a character study of a cocky young criminal who becomes so entranced by the act of picking pockets that he literally can't stop himself. The Bressonian technique of concentrating more on the mechanics of the plot than the emotions of the characters is, as always, a matter of taste. Filmed in 1959, Pickpocket was released in the US in 1963. Loosely inspired by Feodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
75 mins

Complete Cast of Pickpocket


Director(s):
Robert Bresson
Writer(s):
Robert Bresson
Producer(s):
Agnes Delahaie
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    Eric H.

    Review 406: interesting introduction to the world of the street pickpocket with a real life pickpocket showing us the way.

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    EDGARD Q.

    I can not see why 4 stars is the average!

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    James V.

    According to the DVD interviews videotaped nearly a half-century later with "Pickpocket" cast members, director Robert Bresson insisted on doing some 30 to 50 "takes" of a person walking up a flight of stairs or mouthing a line of dialog repeatedly. This, to Bresson, equaled "reality" and he didn’t want any "acting" from his cast. Evidently the man never noticed that human behavior, in all its oddity and complexity, is what's real, and so he effectively wiped out all behavior from the film. He achieved more control over things in this way but it renders his work, on one level, utterly lifeless (though oddly interesting). In every way that Bresson is said to have stretched the boundaries of film by "transgressing"--perversely denying the viewer what's expected--he actually managed to "expand" cinema's horizons by closing them down. The film is never less than watchable, although its ending, into which sentiment and emotion are finally allowed, may strike you as a bit hokey.

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