Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Bresson

Writers:

Georges Bernanos (novel)
Robert Bresson (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Ambricourt, a young Priest (Claude Laydu) arrives to be the local parish priest. The community of the small town does not accept him...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Stomach | Cancer | Alienation | Faith

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Claude Laydu	...	Priest of Ambricourt (Curé d'Ambricourt)
Jean Riveyre	...	Count (Le Comte)
Adrien Borel	...	Priest of Torcy (Curé de Torcy) (as Andre Guibert)
Rachel Bérendt	...	Countess (La Comtesse) (as Marie-Monique Arkell)
Nicole Maurey	...	Miss Louise
Nicole Ladmiral	...	Chantal
Martine Lemaire	...	Séraphita Dumontel
Antoine Balpêtré	...	Dr. Delbende (Docteur Delbende) (as Balpetre)
Jean Danet	...	Olivier
Gaston Séverin	...	Canon (Le Chanoine) (as Gaston Severin)
Yvette Etiévant	...	Femme de ménage
Bernard Hubrenne	...	Priest Dufrety
Léon Arvel	...	Fabregars
Martial Morange	...	Deputy mayor (L'Adjoint)
Gilberte Terbois	...	Mrs. Dumouchel (Mme Dumouchel)

Also Known As:

Diary of a Country Priest (USA)

Runtime:

110 min | USA:95 min | Canada:122 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:Approved | West Germany:12 (w) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Château, Equirre, Pas-de-Calais, France

Company:

Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Trivia:

The main character's bizarre, unhealthy eating habits, not to mention his obsessive isolation and loneliness, were reportedly an influence on the character of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976).

Quotes:

Curé de Torcy: Make order. Make order all day long. Make order while thinking that disorder will take over the following day, because it is precisely within order, unfortunately, that the night will blow away yesterday's work.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in De weg naar Bresson (1984)

How to do a religious film without mentioning God.

How does one write about religion without hardly even mentioning God? This masterpiece shows better than any other film that religion is not about God, but about us. Religion is a box into which we try to put God. As Voltaire said or wrote, "God has created us into His image , but we have returned the compliment." I am a deeply religious man, yet I have not set foot in a church for the past 30 years or so, except for marriages, baptisms, funerals and the like. In that sense, this is a deeply religious film. However, it is about religiosity, not strictly about religion. It is about the wife who will speak about the sins of her husband for an hour during confession, and where the priest has to interrupt her and tell her "Now that I have heard the confession of your husband, may I hear your own?" How such a movie could have been made by an avowed atheist is beyond me. In that sense, I feel a deep kinship with Robert Bresson and with the writer, Georges Bernanos. In short, this is a blue-blood MASTERPIECE !!! Buy it, steal it, rent it, lie for it, but see it, please !