I should note that I don't know Jean-Pierre Melville's movies that well. I understand that he was the spiritual father of the French New Wave, and influenced both Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jim Jarmusch.
Since Melville's "Léon Morin, prêtre" ("Léon Morin, Priest" in English) is the first movie of his that I've seen, I have to say that I'm impressed. It's set in a French town during WWII, first occupied by Mussolini's Italy, then by Hitler's Germany. Emmanuelle Riva - who later got a lot of recognition in Michael Haneke's "Amour" - plays a lapsed Catholic-turned-communist who goes to make a confession and ends up feeling attracted to the priest (Jean-Paul Belmondo). But facts of the Nazi occupation remain.
A major theme of the discussions between the woman and the priest is the meaning of Christianity. There's the issue of merely going to church versus performing benevolent acts. I guess that the movie could've gotten into the Catholic Church's history of antisemitism. Although it doesn't, the movie still raises important points, and also uses techniques like camera angle to tell the story. This movie, along with "The Nun's Story" and maybe "The Exorcist", would be a good set to watch for movies looking at the Catholic Church. Worth seeing.
Since Melville's "Léon Morin, prêtre" ("Léon Morin, Priest" in English) is the first movie of his that I've seen, I have to say that I'm impressed. It's set in a French town during WWII, first occupied by Mussolini's Italy, then by Hitler's Germany. Emmanuelle Riva - who later got a lot of recognition in Michael Haneke's "Amour" - plays a lapsed Catholic-turned-communist who goes to make a confession and ends up feeling attracted to the priest (Jean-Paul Belmondo). But facts of the Nazi occupation remain.
A major theme of the discussions between the woman and the priest is the meaning of Christianity. There's the issue of merely going to church versus performing benevolent acts. I guess that the movie could've gotten into the Catholic Church's history of antisemitism. Although it doesn't, the movie still raises important points, and also uses techniques like camera angle to tell the story. This movie, along with "The Nun's Story" and maybe "The Exorcist", would be a good set to watch for movies looking at the Catholic Church. Worth seeing.