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Pickpocket

  • Dir: Robert Bresson

  • France, 1959, 76minmins, DCP

  • Cast: Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri

Bresson explores Dostoevsky but alters Crime and Punishment nonetheless while probing depths of love and agony. Michel, a minor pickpocket, lives a life of bad choices that also hurt those around him – his loving mother or the faithful Jeanne. While police cannot quite hold onto him, his life is tied to them by every petty crime and temptation, even when he leaves France completely. What will it mean to return? And what will it take for Michel to be redeemed? Celebrated filmmaker Paul Schrader has said that Pickpocket is “as close to perfect as there can be.”

Further reading:
Filmmakers on Bresson – Louis Malle, From Robert Bresson by James Quandt (Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario, 1998)
Filmmakers on Bresson – Paul Schrader, From Robert Bresson by James Quandt (Toronto: Cinematheque Ontario, 1998)

Screening:

In-theatre Screening

Remarks

1. Screenings at ALL commercial cinemas : tickets are available at URBTIX till 5pm one day before respective screening, after which tickets will be available only at the box office of the respective venue on the day of screening, subject to availability.

2. Screenings at HK Arts Centre and M+ Cinema : tickets are available at URBTIX outlets until one hour before the screening, after which tickets are available at URBTIX website and mobile app. On-the-day tickets will also be available at the Self-service Ticketing Kiosk of the respective venue, subject to availability.

3. Unless otherwise stated, all films (except English-speaking films) are subtitled in English.

4. While it is the HKIFFS’s policy to secure the best possible print of the original version for all its screenings, the HKIFFS appreciates its patrons’ understanding on occasions when less than perfect screening copies are screened.