Pickpocket

Isolated and yet strangely charismatic, pickpocket Michel moves shadowy through the streets of Paris, driven less by financial necessity than by an inner urge. Neither his sick mother nor his girlfriend Jeanne, whose reserve forms the moral and emotional centre of the film and contrasts with Michel's controlled world, can dissuade him. Bresson is interested neither in psychology nor dramatisation: he breaks down the act of theft into movements, rhythms, sequences – played by actors whom he moulds into ‘models’, freed from expression but full of presence. An existential lesson in guilt and grace – the possibility of becoming part of the world again through another human being.
(Florian Widegger)