Filmstelle

“A young man commits suicide on the Père Lachaise.” The Devil, Probably begins with this headline. Or was it murder? To understand how Charles died, we jump back in time and follow the last six months of his life. We observe a young environmentalist who gradually despairs of the world and looks for support in various relationships, but cannot find it anywhere. Ultimately he decides to leave this destroyed, rotting and lost world.
Bresson’s film is characterized by a reduced, ascetic but also distinctive style. He doesn’t just take the audience by the hand, he just hints at the scenes. He mercilessly shows the destruction of the planet and the exploitation of nature. The young people who want to make a change gradually realize the hopelessness of their endeavor and as a result feel disillusioned and left alone. It is Bresson’s most urgent film and has lost none of its relevance to this day, even more than 45 years after its release. A truly timeless masterpiece.

Jérôme Bewersdorff