The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne

1945

French

7.1

♡ 8

100%

Robert Bresson Director

Elina Labourdette as Agnès

Jean Marchat as Jacques

Yvette Etiévant as La bonne

Blanchette Brunoy as (uncredited)

A love story that follows the maneuverings of a society lady as she connives to initiate a scandalous affair between her aristocratic ex-lover and a prostitute.

Lancelot of the Lake

1974

French

6.9

♡ 5

96%

knights of the round table

medieval

Romance

sword fight

Robert Bresson Director

Marie-Gabrielle Cartron as

Jean-Marie Becar as

Marie-Louise Buffet as

Laura Duke Condominas as La Reine

Having failed in their quest for the Holy Grail, the knights of the Round Table return to Camelot, their number reduced to a mere handful. Seeing a rift developing between Lancelot and Mordred, Arthur urges his knights to bury their differences and become friends. However, the king is unaware that Lancelot is having an affair with his queen, Guinevere. Lancelot is torn between his duty to his king and his love for the queen, whilst Mordred is determined to use his infidelity to destroy him.

The Devil, Probably

1977

French

7.0

♡ 5

85%

Robert Bresson Director

Martin Schlumberger as

Thadee Klossowsky as

Laetitia Martinneti as

Marie Rivière as Student

Charles drifts through politics, religion and psychoanalysis, rejecting them all. Once he realises the depth of his disgust with the moral and physical decline of the society he lives in, he decides that suicide is the only option...

Pickpocket

1959

French

♡ 26

93%

Robert Bresson Director

Pierre Leymarie as Jacques

Marika Green as Jeanne

Dolly Scal as La mère

Jean Pélégri as L'inspecteur principal

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

Au hasard Balthazar

1966

French

7.7

♡ 22

100%

Robert Bresson Director

Jean-Claude Guilbert as Arnold

François Lafarge as Gérard

Walter Green as Jacques

Anne Wiazemsky as Marie

The story of a donkey Balthazar as he is passed from owner to owner, some kind and some cruel but all with motivations beyond his understanding. Balthazar, whose life parallels that of his first keeper, Marie, is truly a beast of burden, suffering the sins of humankind. But despite his powerlessness, he accepts his fate nobly.

Four Nights of a Dreamer

1971

French

♡ 6

91%

78%

Action

artist

based on novel or book

Robert Bresson Director

Jérôme Massart as Jacques' Visitor

Giorgio Maulini as Locksmith

Isabelle Weingarten as Marthe

Jean-Maurice Monnoyer as Marthe's Lover

Jacques, a young man with artistic aspirations, spends four nights wandering Paris with a young woman, whom he rescued from suicide.

The Trial of Joan of Arc

1962

French

7.4

♡ 10

100%

62%

based on a true story

Robert Bresson Director

Michael Williams as Englishman

Donald O'Brien as English Priest

Nicolas Bang as Garde

Florence Delay as Jeanne d'Arc

Rouen, Normandy, 1431, during the Hundred Years' War. After being captured by French soldiers from an opposing faction, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans, is unjustly tried by an ecclesiastical court overseen by her English enemies.

Mouchette

1967

French

7.7

♡ 17

89%

discontentedness and displeasedness

Robert Bresson Director

Marine Trichet as Luisa

Marie Susini as Mathieu's wife

Liliane Princet as Schoolteacher

Suzanne Huguenin as Undertaker

A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.

L'Argent

1983

French

♡ 17

97%

Robert Bresson Director

Caroline Lang as Elise

Sylvie Van den Elsen as Grey Haired Woman

Vincent Risterucci as Lucien

Christian Patey as Yvon Targe

A forged 500-franc note is passed from person to person and shop to shop, until it falls into the hands of a genuine innocent who doesn't see it for what it is—which will have devastating consequences on his life.

Diary of a Country Priest

1951

French

7.7

♡ 12

Action

based on novel or book

Robert Bresson Director

Gaston Séverin as Canon

Nicole Ladmiral as Chantal

Jean Danet as Olivier

Martine Lemaire as Séraphita Dumontel

An inexperienced, sickly priest shows up in the rural French community of Ambricourt, where he joins the community's clergy. But the locals don't take kindly to the priest, and his ascetic ways and unsociable demeanor make him an outcast. During Bible studies at the nearby girls school, he is continually mocked by his students. Then his attempt to intervene in a family feud backfires into a scandal. His failures, compounded with his declining health, begin to erode his faith.