Review of Pickpocket (1959) by Matt W — 21 Jun 2007

Bresson's best work. Never have I seen a film with a character so lost and in such transition. Pickpocket is a film not only about the rare art of pickpocketing, (scenes which are beautifully and elagently filmed) but also about trying to find an identity, trying to be recognized. Throughout the entire film I was actually thinking of the quote: "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.".

I hate to use a Crash quote when talking about Pickpocket, but this quote has never been so evident in Bresson's film. There is a sexual motivation behind what the main character does in Pickpocket, and it's sad to see what he must resort to in order to try and feel a connection to other human beings. Bresson seems to have a knack for portraying his characters with little or no emotion. He leaves it up to the audience to judge the characters. In Pickpocket the main character is always in constant motion and his facial expressions are always mixed with exicitment and fear. I felt genuine sadness for the main character, and greatly sympathized with his situation. Again, Bresson passes no judegment, and leaves it completley up to the audince. It's also interesting that if the main character hadn't chosen to pickpocket, there is a good chance that his life would have turned out worse. He would have probablly remained alone in the world, and is there anything worse than that?