(aka "The Forgiven Sinner" or "Leon Morin prete" or "Leon Morin, Priest")
directed
by Jean-Pierre Melville
France 1961
Aiming successfully for a wider audience in 1961, the neglected French independent Jean-Pierre Melville (Les enfants terribles, Le samourai) adapted Beatrix Beck's autobiographical novel, set in a French village during World War II, about a young woman falling in love with a handsome, radical young priest who's fully aware of his power over her. For the starring roles Melville, godfather of the New Wave, ironically selected two talented actors catapulted to fame by that movement--Hiroshima, mon amour's Emmanuele Riva and Breathless's Jean-Paul Belmondo. The poetic results are literary and personal; the heroine's offscreen narration suggests the pre-Bressonian form of Melville's first feature, Le silence de la mer, and sudden subjective shots convey the woman's physical proximity to the priest as she undergoes an ambiguous religious conversion. Not an unqualified success, the film remains strong for its performances, its inventive editing and framing, and its evocative rendering of the French occupation. According to Melville, the film ran for 193 minutes in its prerelease form; he edited out 65 minutes, and another 18 minutes are missing from the present version. The eclectic and resourceful nonjazz score is by jazz pianist Martial Solal.
Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's capsule on the Chicago Reader located HERE
Poster
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Theatrical Release: March - 1961 - France
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DVD Review: BFI - Region 2 - PAL
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| Distribution | BFI - Region 2- PAL | |
| Runtime | 1:52:12 | |
| Video |
1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate:
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| Audio | French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby) | |
| Subtitles | English | |
| Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details:
• Commentary by French
film expert Prof. Ginette Vincendeau |
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| Comments: |
The
picture quality seems even better than
Le Doulos.
Shows a lot of good film grain and fairly tight anamorphic picture
quality. I couldn't remove the English subtitles but suspect that it
might have been my player - regardless they are clear and
"Criterion-like". Exact same extras as in
Le Doulos,
but , of course, a different commentary and trailer. A very well done
DVD by the BFI!
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out of
Recommended Reading in French Cinema (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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The Films in My Life |
French Cinema: A Student's Guide by Philip Powrie, Keith Reader |
Agnes Varda by Alison Smith | Godard on Godard : Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard | Notes on the Cinematographer by Robert Bresson |
Robert Bresson (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs, No.
2) by James Quandt |
The Art of Cinema by Jean Cocteau |
French New Wave
by Jean Douchet, Robert Bonnono, Cedric Anger, Robert Bononno |
French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present by Remi Fournier Lanzoni |
Truffaut: A Biography by Antoine do Baecque and Serge Toubiana |
Check out more in "The Library"
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| Distribution | BFI - Region 2- PAL | |
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