bears all the hallmarks of Bresson's celebrated restraint, but it also shows its age, so failing to engage that, like its protagonist, you too will (probably) find yourself just wanting it to end.
The Devil, Probably (1977)
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Synopsis: French master Robert Bresson adds another moving, reflective film to his catalogue with THE DEVIL, PROBABLY. In a flashback, the film recounts the final days of Charles (Antoine Monnier), a somber Parisian youth who is struggling to find meaning and redemption in modern big-city life.... French master Robert Bresson adds another moving, reflective film to his catalogue with THE DEVIL, PROBABLY. In a flashback, the film recounts the final days of Charles (Antoine Monnier), a somber Parisian youth who is struggling to find meaning and redemption in modern big-city life. Unable to find happiness and justification in religion, politics, or within himself, he begins to spend time with two women, Alberte (Tina Irissari) and Edwige (Laetitia Carcano), with the hopes of making a lasting connection. Ultimately, these attempts fail also, rendering him utterly depressed and empty. His unbearable sorrow finally catches up with him one night, when he strikes a deal with a smack-addled devil in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. Bresson's film is a deeply melancholy portrayal of alienated youth, which earned the acclaimed director the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Working with cinematographer Pasqualino De Santis and composer Philippe Sarde, Bresson paces his film somberly, though at 95 minutes, it never drags. Monnier's Charles brilliantly symbolizes a growing number of disillusioned young adults in the latter half of the 20th century, capturing that youthful despair with a sincerity that has rarely been captured on celluloid. Whereas Bresson's earlier MOUCHETTE dealt more personally with depression and suicide, this film works on a far grander scale, speaking for any teenager who has ever contemplated suicide. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Antoine Monnier, Tina Irissari, Henri De Maublanc, Laettia Carcano
Reviews
Another rigorous -- and unusually watchable -- exercise in cinematic discipline by Bresson, the master of the minimal.
If nothing else, there's plenty of conviction in the telling of the grim story.
No other director I can think of has come as close as Bresson to molding his players into what are, in effect, variations on a continuing personality, much the way a painter might.


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