Léon Morin, Prêtre (Leon Morin, Priest) (The Forgiven S...

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  September 1, 2008

  bort16

  Jean Pierre Melville made many great films in his career - Bob La Flambeur, Le Cercle Rouge, L'armee des Ombres, Le Samourai... etc. Melville was widely revered for putting the french back into film noir. His love of American crime drama was the dramatic basis for his films, whi...( read more)le the work of the great European auteurs, such as Bresson, formed the artistic direction. His 1961 Leon Morin, Pretre, is then something of an exception. If films like Le Cercle Rouge or Le Doulous were a combination of American and European style, Leon Morin is all European.
  Set in a town occupied at first by Italians, then Germans during WWII, Barny (Emanuelle Riva) is a widowed mother and communist. One day she walks into a church looking to belittle a priest. She chooses Father Leon Morin (Belmondo), because his name sounds less bourgeois. She goes into the confessional and begins her attack. The response by the young priest however takes her by suprise. He has wise and rational responses to her every claim. The two begin conversing regularly, the priest giving her books to read about religion and faith. The young priests rationality appeals to Barny, and she eventually undergoes a conversion, not because she wants to, but because she feels she has no other choice.
  While the two converse in dogmatic banter, that is not only enlightening but interesting and entertaining, life in an occupied town goes on. Barny works at the local school in the office. Her daughter of a now dead Jew is cared for by farmers outside of town, where German soldiers train in the field. The young girl is befriended by a German who cares for her and gives her gifts. A co-worker collaborates with the Germans, but yet remains a friend to Barny. Another coworker Barny claims to be in love with, although it becomes apparent that she is in love with Father Morin, even before a friend points out that he is handsome and she claims that this was the first time she's noticed.
  The film plays out conversationally, with the plot revolving around ideas and emotion rather than events. It's a smart and thoughtful film, not so much concerned about where its going, just how its getting there. While the film is obviously one of faith, it is not one of traditional dogma. The young priest is so forgiving, so empathetic, that he asserts that of course one does not need to be Catholic to be saved, so long as they live by the laws of the wider church - kindness, generosity, humanity. He exists for the sake of others. During the occupation he houses anyone who needs a place to sleep, without asking questions, even names.
  Characteristic of Melville, he uses interesting editing techniques and cinematography. Consider the first encounter between Barny and Morin: at times the camera looks straight on, making it appear as if they're speaking face to face, then cuts to side angle shots which show the caging of the confessional to obscure the faces. The point? I"m not totally sure, but nevertheless the effect is intriguing.
  Equally compelling as Melville's direction is the performance of Belmondo. Known for his crime roles, most iconically in Godard's Breathless, he gives here a totally different kind of performance. For my money, its also one of his best. He's a bit of an unexpected choice, but he's the right choice, and he inhabits this role like its an old pair of pants.
  Leon Morin, Pretre, is a surprising film. Surprising in its creation by Melville, in its acting by Belmondo, in its portrayal of life in an occupied town, and in its sheer intelligence and humility. It's also a wonderful and heartfelt film.

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  July 14, 2009

  littlecharmer1959

  "Léon Morin, Prêtre" stands out in Jean Pierre Melville's body of work. Better known for his American style noir films such as "Bob le flambeur" and "Le doulos", "Léon Morin, Prêtre" comes between these but is not a crime drama, yet a thought provoking and intelligent film.
  Set...( read more) in an occupied French town during WW2, with convincing period detail, Emanuelle Riva plays the widowed mother, who stumbles upon Jean Paul Belmondo's Catholic priest and over the course of the film starts to question herself.
  Melville here wears his Bresson influence on his sleeve and proves he can successfully stray from the crime drama. The fact that he chose two established stars also helped with the public point of view. The action, if you can call it that, is very much dialogue based, but the conversations between Riva's and Belmondo's characters are never boring, and between these talks we have quick glimpses of how people continued through everyday life under the Nazis. I'll just also mention the interesting cinematography with interesting shots and Henri Decaë's great photography.

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  January 24, 2009

  rlaunio

  In Jean-Pierre Melville's great list of works, Leon Morin stands out as an oddball. It's not about criminals or war, but a small village where unusually tender-spirited priest guides lost lambs. Being a rarity in Melville's ouevre. it also is propably his weakest film. I see no c...( read more)lear reason for this movie to exist, other than it may have had some deep personal importance for the director himself. Jean-Paul Belmondo delivers an balanced, if unremarkable, perfomance as the kind priest. I'd say Melville was much more at home with Trench coats, guns, heists, smoky bars and men with little word and secret honors. A disappointment, being a work by Melville, but rather good movie in other standards.

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  October 24, 2008

  daghka

  This is one of those films by him that are not noir but yet, have that dark, broody quality in it, it is rather similar to Le silence de la mer but another thing is the devotion in etiquette of both films to Bresson, except the acting here is less alike. I was amazed at how effic...( read more)iently he took Bresson's technique and utilized it here, in a film where redemption and faith are explored by a man both Jewish and Alsatian. I really loved the intellectual approach here that is easy to touch but yet intriguing, like the sentence, "There is no French race", which really got me going, also the satire here is rather intriguing too. A fine watch.

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