Pickpocket (1959) directed Robert Bresson
The life of crime is dangerous and short lived, not to mention immoral and illegal, and it makes you wonder the mindset of a criminal. What compels them to steal? What makes them think they can get away with it? Do they ever feel bad? One thing I never considered is that criminals think they are better than normal people and thus are entitled to do what they want.
That is the mindset of Michel who pickpockets his way through Paris. He argues that it is okay for an extraordinary man to commit a crime. Of course he is just justifying his actions, but does he truly think he is better than everyone else? His friend asks rhetorically, "What man doesn't think he is special?" Apparently Pickpocket draws comparisons to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment which is also about a criminal with the same mindset. Unfortunately I haven't read it so much of the literary analysis of the film is lost upon me. For such a short and simple film you can probably write a book on its themes and morality.
My favorite parts of the film were the pickpocketing scenes. It almost plays like an instructional video. There is a certain art to it and the scenes are presented as gracefully as a ballet; the nimble fingers and delicate touch contrasted with the tension and the thrill of the moment. When Michel is working with a team on a crowded train it is like watching magic as they relieve victim after victim of their belongings.
There is also a certain level of intimacy involved in pickpocketing. You have to stand right next to the target but not quite touch as if teasing a lover, delicately maneuver your fingers across the body and reach in. This is the type of intimacy that Michel cannot achieve in his own life with Jeanne, the virtuous woman, another archetype from Crime and Punishment. It is only when Michel is stripped of everything, his freedom, his ego, and ultimately his life of crime that she can redeem him.
Overall I enjoyed the film, particularly the scenes of thievery. However it is difficult to say that I had any type of attachment to it. I think it is meant to be more thought provoking than to be a powerful or moving experience.
Grade: B
The life of crime is dangerous and short lived, not to mention immoral and illegal, and it makes you wonder the mindset of a criminal. What compels them to steal? What makes them think they can get away with it? Do they ever feel bad? One thing I never considered is that criminals think they are better than normal people and thus are entitled to do what they want.
That is the mindset of Michel who pickpockets his way through Paris. He argues that it is okay for an extraordinary man to commit a crime. Of course he is just justifying his actions, but does he truly think he is better than everyone else? His friend asks rhetorically, "What man doesn't think he is special?" Apparently Pickpocket draws comparisons to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment which is also about a criminal with the same mindset. Unfortunately I haven't read it so much of the literary analysis of the film is lost upon me. For such a short and simple film you can probably write a book on its themes and morality.
My favorite parts of the film were the pickpocketing scenes. It almost plays like an instructional video. There is a certain art to it and the scenes are presented as gracefully as a ballet; the nimble fingers and delicate touch contrasted with the tension and the thrill of the moment. When Michel is working with a team on a crowded train it is like watching magic as they relieve victim after victim of their belongings.
There is also a certain level of intimacy involved in pickpocketing. You have to stand right next to the target but not quite touch as if teasing a lover, delicately maneuver your fingers across the body and reach in. This is the type of intimacy that Michel cannot achieve in his own life with Jeanne, the virtuous woman, another archetype from Crime and Punishment. It is only when Michel is stripped of everything, his freedom, his ego, and ultimately his life of crime that she can redeem him.
Overall I enjoyed the film, particularly the scenes of thievery. However it is difficult to say that I had any type of attachment to it. I think it is meant to be more thought provoking than to be a powerful or moving experience.
Grade: B
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