Léon Morin, Priest (1961)
The widow Barny lives in Nazi-occupied France, looking after her half-Jewish daughter in a small village. When the Germans arrive, she decides to baptize her and chooses priest Léon Morin to do so. After spending some time with him, the relationship with her confessor turns into a confrontation with both God and her own repressed desire.
- Jean-Pierre Melville
- Volker Schlöndorff
- Bertrand Tavernier
- Jacqueline Parey
- Luc Andrieux
- Béatrix Beck
- Jean-Pierre Melville
Rating: 7/10 by 149 users
Alternative Title:
Léon Morin, Priest - US
Country:
France
Italy
Language:
Deutsch
Français
English
Runtime: 01 hour 57 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: faith, widow, world war ii, atheist, confessional, catholic priest, occupied france (1940-44), nouvelle vague
The hero of the movie, we have here is not a human being, or if he is, then for this modern world, he is a joker. With such a religious icon, we are given another character who is like us. Who behaves and thinks like us. Poor widow gets somehow obsessed with this priest who, I felt is very needy and lonely, maybe. He tries the best to manipulate the girl, who seeks nothing more than reality and compassion. I do not feel any achievement of the director to create such a simple movie with unusual characters and their capers. I absolutely do not understand the philosophy of this movie, in a simple individualistic way. Is this movie a good entertainment? Personally, I like to see how things were during world wars. I like to see such old fashioned phones, roads, clothes, accent, so I like the small village, the small office, the characters and everything, but I must say, this film is totally outdated with its own philosophy even during its time. The conversations do not make much sense, rather her submissiveness, and the film ends, maybe giving a lesson to priests but again, you do not set up lonely sad women to have a conversation with you alone and run your emotional abuse in the name of Father and His Holy Spirit.
