Adaptation of the classic Herman Melville short story. The narrator, an elderly Manhattan lawyer with a very comfortable business helping wealthy men deal with mortgages, deeds, and bonds, relates the story of the strangest man he has ever known.
Acting
Mailfort's maddening, magnetic stillness as Bartleby.
Direction
Ronet traps you in claustrophobic office corridors forever.
Writing
Melville's dialogue untouched—devastating in its repetition.
Director
Maurice Ronet
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ronet was primarily an actor; this was his only feature as director, and he chose to shoot in Paris despite the New York setting.
The 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' story became a rallying cry for the Occupy movement and 'quiet quitting'—this 1976 adaptation predicted our work-from-home existential crises.
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