Godard once said: "Bresson is to French cinema as Mozart is to Austrian music, Dostoevsky is to Russian literature". Coincidentally, Bresson's Pickpocket is a film that tells the "story of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment".
As the name suggests, the protagonist of the movie "Pickpocket" is a pickpocket. The young Michelle was very poor, living in a simple attic, but he did not want to work, he had his own set of theories. In a conversation with the chief of police, he said: "Talented people, people who have been given extremely high talents by God, they can not live like ordinary people, and they can even break the law". This is the view of Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Crime and Punishment: "Man can be roughly divided into two categories: "ordinary" and "extraordinary.". The former must abide by existing laws and moral laws and follow the rules. The latter, when necessary for the implementation of his ideals, has the right to overcome certain obstacles and not to be bound by existing laws and morals". So he decided to live up to his beliefs and use his guts and abilities to become a pickpocket.
Readers who have seen Crime and Punishment know that Tuoshi's works often have large sections of surging dialogue and monologues, and Bresson is a master of minimalism. In Pickpocket, the characters' dialogue is extremely simple, with three longer dialogues between Michelle and the sheriff, Jenny and Michelle alone. At other times, the dialogue between the characters is often only three words; more often, the characters are even completely silent. Bresson's most used voice is the voiceover, which is Michelle's inner monologue. But even with the most used monologue, Bresson is still to the point, revealing Michelle's psychological state and not saying more words. If tossed with a large section of dialogue is a raging wave that envelops the reader in it, bresson's simplicity forces the viewer to think for itself and thus integrates more deeply into the film.
The scenes of theft in Pickpockets are called "ballet on the fingertips," but even with mental preparation, when I actually saw these scenes on the big screen, I was still shocked. What is even more breathtaking is that these simple and gorgeous movements, Bresson are shown entirely in mid-shot and close-up shots, with almost no close-ups, no slow motion, or quick editing. Either a silent long shot or a precise combination of short shots, all the movements follow the reality of time completely, and the whole process of stealing is shown like "1 + 1 = 2", which is clear and irrefutable at a glance. Without any rendering, it's more powerful than any showmanship—no technique is more powerful than it really is.
Bresson's minimalism is taken to the extreme in this film, where there are a lot of omitted editing narratives. Michelle's mother was unwell, and Jenny couldn't find him, so she had to stuff the pieces of paper into the crack in the door. Bresson expressed the passage of time with Michelle's feet stepping on the piece of paper twice, and the door opened and closed. Next, Michelle came to Visit Her Mother at Jenny, who said she was no longer able to do so, and Michelle tried to comfort her mother; as soon as the camera turned, he was already sitting in the church with Jenny and his friend Jacques, and the solemn hymn sounded, and the three of them stood up, and Michelle was already in tears. We know that Michelle's mother has died. At the end of the film, Michelle is anxious in prison, and Jenny has not seen him in a long time. At this time, he received a letter. The letter said, "The child has been seriously ill for three weeks, and now he will never be in pain, and I will come to see you soon." Jenny. "In just a few words, how many twists and turns and heartaches. Less is more, and this truth is perfectly confirmed here in Bresson.
Of course, Bresson's minimalism is not without its drawbacks. This style makes Bresson reject the performances of professional actors, often using non-professional actors, and the characters in the film are often as wooden as marionettes. But in the movie "Pickpocket", the character's Muran is integrated with the character's personality - Michelle's Muran is his self-inhibition of his inner rebellion and passion; Jenny's Muran is her stoic perseverance towards life; the police chief's Muran is his sympathy and tolerance for Michelle because of Michelle's mother; the Muran of Michelle's companion thieves is their necessary professionalism - "Pickpocket" can be said to be Bresson's most perfect work.
The character's muran forces us to explore the inner world of the character, why does Michelle have those fierce thoughts? In Michelle's conversation with Jenny, he finally confided in him: "You're driving me crazy, all of you!" Of course, you can endure, you can put up with an alcoholic father, endure a mother who elopes... Jenny, you're so childish! It turned out that Michelle was full of anger at this unfair society. He didn't want to be as resigned as Jenny, but in the face of Jenny's silent suffering, he had to feel compassion and awe. After fleeing Paris for two years, he returns to Jenny again, and seeing that she is struggling to survive alone with her children, he decides to do his best to support their mother and son. However, his only way to make a living is to steal. In her own way, Michelle rushed against the order of this society, but in the end she was subdued by the order and imprisoned. He didn't give in at this point, "I should have been a little more vigilant," he said. He then receives a letter from Jenny informing of the death of her unfortunate child. Jenny was still stoic and still cared about him. After Michelle's mother died, Jenny once asked him, do you have faith? He replied, I believed in God for three minutes. And now, in this untouchable emotion, his faith has been resurrected. At the end of the film, Michelle and Jenny cling to each other across the prison fence, and Michelle mutters, "Jenny, what a strange road I have taken to be with you..."
Suffering is the only way to salvation.