314 Pickpocket

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ando
Bringing Out El Duende
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#51 Post by ando » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:27 pm

One of the film's major attractions (and this has something to do with the time and space relationship I alluded to) is Paris, 1959. The manner in which Michel navigates his way through the city is presented with such virtuosity that it's easy to miss some of what Bresson is up to in terms of establishing and maintaining the film's rhythm. For instance, there's one shot simply of Michel approaching the glass doorway of the pub where he will meet Kassagi, his accomplice, that lasts all of five seconds. We fade in on Michel crossing the street, stepping up onto the curb, open the glass door (look down - he's constantly glancing downwards, look up) and enter the doorway. Now, there's no narrative point to this shot: no information is contained within it that would provide us with more imformation about Michel, Paris or the cafe' he's about to enter. But the fact that the shot is sandwiched between the complex sequence where Michel and Kassagi adroitly rob an unsuspecting patron of a local bank and their subsequent meet-up gives the entire sequence of shots a rhythm and pace that adds to the realism of the event. (In fact, Michel looks slightly fatigued as he enters the cafe'.) I almost think that Bresson is composing as much as he is directing here. Now I realize that all editors and their directors compose a film to some extent in order to maintain a film's pace, but to film and edit with this level of sensitivity and sustained focus (because the whole film is on this level) requires an extreme level of intensity. Of course, Bresson relents and we get periods of much longer held shots. We even get rests. But not for long. Though the film is two dimensional it moves like a living organism which, in this case, is Michel himself.

It's no wonder that Bresson (in the special features portion of the DVD) spoke of how he wanted audiences to feel first and engage the intellect only as secondary process. Compassion for Michel's experience could not be acheived through a kind of third party narrative. We have to actually experience his life moment to moment through our eyes and ears. The film is quite sensual in this regard - how could it not be with such an approach? But I'm beginning to doubt if Bresson is making any larger point about the way time and space is related or unrelated with regard to contemporary society (despite Paris) or film itself. The subject here seems to be more important than the object. In other words, the subjective experience of Michel trumps any objective or metaphysical truth about the nature of modern life, the way we observe and/or interact with one another or the way film captures any of this.

Yet who was it that said every poet is a philosopher? Bresson was certainly a poet, yet I'm beginning to feel that in Pickpocket his process is merely a means to an end... And that by the time he gets to A Man Escaped the means is the end.

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cysiam
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#52 Post by cysiam » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:39 pm

The Austin Cinematheque is showing a 35mm print of this tonight at 7:30.

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domino harvey
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#53 Post by domino harvey » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:16 pm

Blu-ray upgrade in July

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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#54 Post by criterion10 » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:23 pm

Criterion will also be re-issuing the DVD with updated cover logo. It also seems as though the DVD will be sourced from the new 2K restoration used for the Blu-Ray.

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ando
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#55 Post by ando » Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:51 pm

Looking forward to the re-issue.

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Drucker
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#56 Post by Drucker » Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:03 am


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FrauBlucher
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#57 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Jun 28, 2014 11:13 pm


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ando
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#58 Post by ando » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:29 am

Aside from the Blu-ray the packaging/extra features look identical to the previous release. A bit disappointing save the 50% off Barnes & Noble Criterion sale.

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swo17
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#59 Post by swo17 » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:44 am

It's just a Blu-ray upgrade, not a reissue. No one was expecting new bonus features.

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ando
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#60 Post by ando » Mon Jul 07, 2014 2:49 pm

No one minus one.

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diamonds
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#61 Post by diamonds » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:55 am

I watched this film the other day and while I did enjoy it, it left me feeling a bit colder than I expected it to going in. Although it's my first Bresson, his style and subjects seem right up my alley. I wanted to ask about a recurring idea that a few articles I've read on the film reference about it. From the essay that comes packaged in the Criterion release:
In Pickpocket, the society whose laws Michel breaks is far more criminal than he is—not technically, not legally, but spiritually.
The author makes a reference to, "the impossibility of decency in a universe of greed" as a related theme. My question is, what evidence of a society like this does Bresson present in the film? When I watched it, I saw Michel as a character who was assuredly marginalized, resorting to pickpocketing to connect with a society that leaves him completely numb. I can absolutely identify with this feeling/theme, and perhaps that's all that is necessary, but in reading about the film to enrich my viewing I'm struggling to think of ways that Bresson actively critiques or condemns modern society. Michel's mother loves him and forgives him, the police commissioner feels some semblance of sympathy and reaches out to him, does not arrest him the first time, etc. Jeanne is a beacon of hope who also forgives him every step of the way, (although from what I've read it seems Bresson intended this to be deceptively straightforward). Ideally I would like to watch it again soon, but I wanted to let the ideas I have simmer and hopefully gain some more insight into Bresson's worldview before delving back in.

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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#62 Post by Soothsayer » Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:11 pm

diamonds wrote:I watched this film the other day and while I did enjoy it, it left me feeling a bit colder than I expected it to going in. Although it's my first Bresson, his style and subjects seem right up my alley. I wanted to ask about a recurring idea that a few articles I've read on the film reference about it. From the essay that comes packaged in the Criterion release:
In Pickpocket, the society whose laws Michel breaks is far more criminal than he is—not technically, not legally, but spiritually.
The author makes a reference to, "the impossibility of decency in a universe of greed" as a related theme. My question is, what evidence of a society like this does Bresson present in the film? When I watched it, I saw Michel as a character who was assuredly marginalized, resorting to pickpocketing to connect with a society that leaves him completely numb. I can absolutely identify with this feeling/theme, and perhaps that's all that is necessary, but in reading about the film to enrich my viewing I'm struggling to think of ways that Bresson actively critiques or condemns modern society. Michel's mother loves him and forgives him, the police commissioner feels some semblance of sympathy and reaches out to him, does not arrest him the first time, etc. Jeanne is a beacon of hope who also forgives him every step of the way, (although from what I've read it seems Bresson intended this to be deceptively straightforward). Ideally I would like to watch it again soon, but I wanted to let the ideas I have simmer and hopefully gain some more insight into Bresson's worldview before delving back in.
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I've always taken the quote you reference as Michel's mindset, not an objective perspective the film takes. It's the same thread of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, which Pickpocket is frequently cited as referencing.

If there was a counter to this that could support the quote as an objective position for the film, I'd perhaps cite the resolution of Jeanne and Jacques' relationship. However, I'm not sure that's a strong argument. As well, to your mention that the Jeanne character may not be straightforward, it could be argued that Michel winds up having to compromise his ideals to help take care of her in a time of need (almost as a reciprocation of earlier in the film). I don't personally take to that idea though. I more align to what I wrote in the first paragraph.

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domino harvey
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#63 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:46 am

One brief bright spot while suffering through the endless portmanteau film La francaise et l'amour (1960): These incredible street shots of Jean-Paul Belmondo and date outside of an actual Paris theatre showing Pickpocket:

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It never occurred to me that this was ever given blockbuster treatment like this, but that advertising is amazing. I tried to find the box office take but because it was released at the very end of 1959, it looks like it's been elided from both 1959 and 1960 gross counting.

To give some perspective, here's what North by Northwest's theatrical run merited in the same segment:

Image

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barryconvex
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#64 Post by barryconvex » Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:46 am

If I new how to do it I would post screenshots of the heroine of Rafles Sur La Ville standing in front of a poster for A Man Escaped. But since I don't you'll have to imagine it.

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DeprongMori
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#65 Post by DeprongMori » Sun Jan 19, 2020 2:29 pm

Related, I was wondering whether Dreyer’s “Jeanne d’Arc” ever really had a neon marquee advertisement in Paris in 1962, as it appears in Godard’s “Vivre sa vie”.

(Or for that matter, whether Rivette’s “Paris Belongs to Us” had a major theatrical screening years before its actual release, as implied by Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows”.)

Image

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domino harvey
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#66 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jan 19, 2020 2:37 pm

The Truffaut reference was an in-joke, it definitely didn’t exist yet at the time the Doinels went to see it

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#67 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:28 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:46 am
It never occurred to me that this was ever given blockbuster treatment like this, but that advertising is amazing. I tried to find the box office take but because it was released at the very end of 1959, it looks like it's been elided from both 1959 and 1960 gross counting.
Not quite the complete answer, but Ciné-Ressources gives a Paris attendance of 48,612 during its five-week period of "exclusivité," which I'm guessing is the equivalent of a "first run" in the old Hollywood parlance. That compares to 124,659 for A Man Escaped, which ran for eight weeks.

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domino harvey
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#68 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:40 pm

I can’t figure out how to get the info from that site on mobile, but out of curiosity, does it give attendance for North by Northwest and Vadim’s Les liaisons dangereuses (the other theatres/films shown as concurrently running in this segment)?

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#69 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:55 pm

Nope, and it doesn't give attendance for La française et l'amour either. I did look up Purple Noon to have a roughly contemporaneous point of comparison and its figure is 154,081 over eight weeks.

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swo17
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Re: 314 Pickpocket

#70 Post by swo17 » Mon Aug 29, 2022 1:45 am

Just noticed this Blu-ray is OOP and fetching high prices. DVDs still in-print though. My guess is they just ran out of dual-format stock and will be issuing a BD-only version soon enough

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