Pickpocket

( 1 )

Overview

Director Robert Bresson chose Uruguayan nonactor Martin LaSalle for his leading man in Pickpocket. LaSalle's inexperience works against the film for some viewers, though Bresson himself was satisfied because his star proved himself a quick study in the art of lifting wallets a genuine pickpocket was engaged as "technical adviser". Essentially, the story is a character study of a cocky young criminal who becomes so entranced by the act of picking pockets that he literally can't stop himself. The Bressonian ...
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More About This Product

Overview

Director Robert Bresson chose Uruguayan nonactor Martin LaSalle for his leading man in Pickpocket. LaSalle's inexperience works against the film for some viewers, though Bresson himself was satisfied because his star proved himself a quick study in the art of lifting wallets a genuine pickpocket was engaged as "technical adviser". Essentially, the story is a character study of a cocky young criminal who becomes so entranced by the act of picking pockets that he literally can't stop himself. The Bressonian technique of concentrating more on the mechanics of the plot than the emotions of the characters is, as always, a matter of taste. Filmed in 1959, Pickpocket was released in the US in 1963. Loosely inspired by Feodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.
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Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer; Audio commentary by film scholar James Quandt. New video introduction by writer-director Paul Schrader. The Models of Pickpocket, a 2003 documentary by filmmaker Babette Mangolte, featuring actors from the film. A 1960 interview with Bresson, from the French television program Cinépanorama. Q&A on Pickpocket, with actress Marika Green and filmmakers Paul Vecchiali and Jean-Pierre Améris fielding questions at a 2000 screening of the film. Footage of sleight-of-hand artist and Pickpocket consultant Kassagi, from a 1962 episode of the French television show La piste aux étoiles. Original theatrical trailer; A new essay by novelist and culture critic Gary Indiana. New and improved English subtitle translation.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
Loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic novel Crime and Punishment, Robert Bresson's Pickpocket 1959 examines the director's signature concerns with faith and redemption through the experience of a compulsive thief. Bresson's stylistic purity of head-on shots, expressively restrained mise-en-scène, gracefully precise editing, spare dialogue, and impassive non-actors captures the near-erotic charge that Michel gets out of his thievery and obliquely outlines the emotional core of his amoral morality. Bresson's taut, elliptical narrative never offers an easy explanation for Michel's fatalistic narcissism, yet Michel's carefully detailed pickpocketing techniques, and a bravura sequence in which Michel and two accomplices lift wallets on a train, reveal the thrill in getting away with a skillful crime. Although Martin LaSalle's face seems to reveal nothing, in keeping with Bresson's trademark insistence that his actors' faces express as little as possible, Michel's climactic salvation, as he accepts the human connection that he had assiduously denied, becomes all the more moving in its simplicity. Shown in competition at the 1960 Berlin Film Festival, Pickpocket was not released in the U.S. until 1963.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 11/8/2005
  • UPC: 037429209523
  • Original Release: 1959

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Region Code: 1
  • Presentation: B&W / Pan & Scan
  • Language: Français
  • Time: 1:15:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 16,761

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Martin Lasalle Michel
Marika Green Jeanne
Pierre Leymarie Jacques
Pierre Etaix Accomplice
Jean Pelegri Police Inspector
Cesar Gattegno Detective
Kassagi Master Pickpocket
Dolly Scal Michel's Mother
Technical Credits
Robert Bresson Director, Screenwriter
Léonce-Henri Burel Cinematographer
Pierre Charbonnier Art Director
Agnes Delahaie Producer
Raymond Lamy Editor
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Pickpocket
1. Logos [:26]
2. Preface/Opening Credits [1:51]
3. Such Deeds [4:38]
4. A Visit to Mother [4:55]
5. In the Metro [7:21]
6. A Friend Awaits [5:27]
7. "Come Quickly" [4:47]
8. Bank Robbery [3:19]
9. The Prince of Pickpockets [6:32]
10. A Solo Trick [6:02]
11. Working the Train Station [4:45]
12. Neither Fleeing or Hiding [6:57]
13. "Do You Think I'm a Thief?" [4:48]
14. Escape From Paris [1:43]
15. Jeanne Needs Help [3:55]
16. At the Racetrack [2:50]
17. Behind Bars [5:37]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Pickpocket
   Paul Schrader Introduction
      Play
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
      Color Bars
   Commentary
      On
      Off
   Supplements
      The Models of "Pickpocket"
         Play
      Cinépanorama
         Play
      Q&A on Pickpocket
         Play
      Kassagi
         Play
      Original Theatrical Trailer
   Subtitles
      French Language With English Subtitles: On
      French Language With English Subtitles: Off
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Customer Reviews

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