This has to be the least typical Jean-Pierre Melville film out there. He was a director mostly famed for his suspenseful thrillers, in particular his neo-noirs. Léon Morin is pretty far removed from this type of film. It is a lot closer to Army of Shadows a film Melville made about the French Resistance movement. This one too takes place in occupied France, except the war takes a back seat to a story about an unorthodox romance and much religious philosophising. In it a priest tries to steer a faithless woman onto a righteous path. She falls for him leading to considerable sexual tension.
Jean-Paul Belmondo stars in this one and is really very good in an atypical role as the priest Léon Morin. He and his co-star Emmanuelle Riva work well together and are both very convincing. It's a romantic drama even if the relationship never flowers. Morin is more interested in her spiritual development – there is much intellectual musings on a variety of religious matters. Aside from this the story looks at life in France under the Nazis and how different people chose different ways in dealing with this situation. In some ways the film is certainly a critique of France during this time, while there is some very frank sexual discussions; it's no surprise at all, therefore, that the film met with substantial censorship problems. To be honest though, despite being an undoubtedly intelligent offering, this is the least enjoyable Melville film I have seen. It does have some interesting ideas but overall I found it to be a little tedious.
Jean-Paul Belmondo stars in this one and is really very good in an atypical role as the priest Léon Morin. He and his co-star Emmanuelle Riva work well together and are both very convincing. It's a romantic drama even if the relationship never flowers. Morin is more interested in her spiritual development – there is much intellectual musings on a variety of religious matters. Aside from this the story looks at life in France under the Nazis and how different people chose different ways in dealing with this situation. In some ways the film is certainly a critique of France during this time, while there is some very frank sexual discussions; it's no surprise at all, therefore, that the film met with substantial censorship problems. To be honest though, despite being an undoubtedly intelligent offering, this is the least enjoyable Melville film I have seen. It does have some interesting ideas but overall I found it to be a little tedious.