“The movie, above all, affirms the miracle of redemptive love and its price in humility and unconditional surrender.” - Richard Brody, New Yorker
“A short and flawless wonder.” - Kevin Maher, Times
“Ground zero for the inner study of a seemingly passive man.” -Paul Schrader
Bresson’s film follows Michel, an emotionally closed young man in Paris who turns to pickpocketing out of financial necessity and a sense of rebellion against societal norms. His solitary existence is disrupted when he meets the sensitive young woman Jeanne. A film about a criminal, but not quite a crime movie, the minimalist PICKPOCKET is a study of moral dilemma and a man caught between a life without obligation but devoid of connection and an honest, more conventional life with Jeanne. Writer and director Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, FIRST REFORMED) has admittedly been paying homage to PICKPOCKET for much of his career, calling it the most influential film in his creative life, and replicating the last shot of the film in many of his own. “In the final scene, there is a burst of emotion, in a movie without emotion,” says Schrader. “What Bresson is trying to do is make you jump…and if you make that jump, he has created something almost unique in film: the movement of a soul, not only the soul on screen, but the soul watching it. He’s asking you to make the leap from the mundane to the transcendent.”
Awards & Nominations
Nominee - Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival
An Evening with Paul Schrader
On Saturday, April 5, Paul Schrader joins us for an intimate conversation about his life and career, followed by the Renaissance Award presentation.
Curated by Paul Schrader Series
Schrader, a passionate and curious cinephile who began his career as a film critic, has also curated four films for the Film Center’s screens, which will run alongside and complement his own films, March 23–April 4.
Directed by Paul Schrader Series
Leading up to the Renaissance Award presentation, we will screen seven films written and directed by Schrader, demonstrating the auteur’s provocative explorations of faith, his perpetual examinations of characters’ values in conflict with society, and his indelible mark on American cinema, March 21–April 5.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu