Pickpocket

bresson has become one of my favorite filmmakers. his ability to create a minimalist continuation of images that form their own meaning carries a profound depth that inspires awe.  in this film, the body becomes a symbol of meaning and importance. the pickpocketing scenes are intimate, charged with tension through a quiet confrontation. michel’s method of stealing feels less voluntary than philosophical, as it becomes an act of pure conscious awareness, rather than a simple crime that holds nothing.  the final scene, where michel kisses jeanne through the bars of a  prison cell, breaks into bresson’s transcendental style of filmmaking, a style that has become one of my favorites. it feels like a final act of liberation from the tangible, physical body, a surrender of the selfishness and ego that once defined him. fate settles into a sealed kiss, a promise made through cold iron bars that somehow break through their own confinement.