Pickpocket 1959

Pickpocket

1959 · France · Directed by Robert Bresson

StrangeBleak Approachable · For patient viewers Crime drama

A solitary young man treats theft as proof that ordinary rules do not apply to him.

What to expect

Bresson removes conventional excitement and concentrates on hands, objects, routes, and repeated gestures. The precision of the thefts makes the character’s emotional isolation more visible rather than more glamorous.

How to ease in

Watch actions before explanations. The film withholds familiar performance cues, so meaning often arrives through what Michel repeats, avoids, or handles.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes theft, arrest, alienation, illness, and emotional neglect.
Momo's Note Who is Momo? →

A solitary young man treats theft as proof that ordinary rules do not apply to him.

I keep looking at the space between Michel’s clever hands and his unreadable face. The film asks whether mastery can become another way of refusing a life.

Open the note ↓

I keep looking at the space between Michel’s clever hands and his unreadable face. The film asks whether mastery can become another way of refusing a life.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

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