Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.
Direction
Bresson's 'actor-model' technique—no performances, only being.
Editing
The training montage invented minimalism before it was cool.
Sound
Every rustle of fabric and click of fingers is deafening.
Director
Robert Bresson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bresson called this his 'Dostoevsky' film, and the opening title card quotes Crime and Punishment directly—though he later denied Raskolnikov was the real influence.
Kassagi, who plays the first accomplice and choreographed all the pickpocket sequences, was a real professional thief Bresson found through police contacts.
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