Event

Diary of a Country Priest

(Robert Bresson, France, 1951, 35mm, 115 min)
60th Anniversary!
New 35mm Print!

Rookie priest Claude Laydu has drawn a tough assignment in a small village in northern France, whose inhabitants seem as cold as the forbidding climate. Try as he might, he fails to capture the hearts and minds of the villagers, who find the young man odd, lacking in authority, and, with his delicate health and his diet limited to bread and wine, suspect him of chronic drunkenness. Robert Bresson's adaptation of Georges Bernanos's novel is a cinematic landmark, hugely influential to a generation of New Wave filmmakers and beyond, including TAXI DRIVER screenwriter Paul Schrader, who partially based Travis Bickle on the intense and hermetic priest.

"One of the few indisputable masterpieces of post-World War II French cinema. Excels in all the characteristics of [Bresson's] classical tradition: memorable performances, dramatic scenes, a powerful musical score and atmospheric cinematography. Never again would he indulge in extended long takes, deployed with such aplomb in DIARY to profoundly emotional effect...[The] newly subtitled 35mm print is must viewing." Tony Pipolo, Artforum

"One of the most profound emotional experiences in the history of film!" Pauline Kael