Journal d'un curé de campagne (1951)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Robert Bresson

Writers:

Georges Bernanos (novel)
Robert Bresson (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Ambricourt, a young Priest (Claude Laydu) arrives to be the local parish priest. The community of the small town does not accept him...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Stomach | Cancer | Alienation | Faith

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Claude Laydu	...	Priest of Ambricourt (Curé d'Ambricourt)
Jean Riveyre	...	Count (Le Comte)
Adrien Borel	...	Priest of Torcy (Curé de Torcy) (as Andre Guibert)
Rachel Bérendt	...	Countess (La Comtesse) (as Marie-Monique Arkell)
Nicole Maurey	...	Miss Louise
Nicole Ladmiral	...	Chantal
Martine Lemaire	...	Séraphita Dumontel
Antoine Balpêtré	...	Dr. Delbende (Docteur Delbende) (as Balpetre)
Jean Danet	...	Olivier
Gaston Séverin	...	Canon (Le Chanoine) (as Gaston Severin)
Yvette Etiévant	...	Femme de ménage
Bernard Hubrenne	...	Priest Dufrety
Léon Arvel	...	Fabregars
Martial Morange	...	Deputy mayor (L'Adjoint)
Gilberte Terbois	...	Mrs. Dumouchel (Mme Dumouchel)

Also Known As:

Diary of a Country Priest (USA)

Runtime:

110 min | USA:95 min | Canada:122 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (new rating: 2001) | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:Approved | West Germany:12 (w) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Château, Equirre, Pas-de-Calais, France

Company:

Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Trivia:

The main character's bizarre, unhealthy eating habits, not to mention his obsessive isolation and loneliness, were reportedly an influence on the character of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976).

Quotes:

[subtitled version]
Countess: Love is stronger than death. Your scriptures say so.
Curé d'Ambricourt: We did not invent love. It has its order, its law.
Countess: God is its master.
Curé d'Ambricourt: He is not the master of love. He is love itself. If you would love, don't place yourself beyond love's reach.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Last Alchemist, or How Wynn Albright Got His Comeuppance (2004)

The kind of integrity and faith so strong and real, it frightens even the church

A young priest has been assigned his first parish in a village somewhere in the North of France. Right from the first, essential opening shot in beautiful black and white, we instinctively get a sense of his isolation from any other human being. As the final credits rolled by, I don't know why I had the impulse to restart the DVD, and I watched the first 5 minutes of the movie again, realising just how much of a harbinger of extreme loneliness the opening frames are. Diary of a Country Priest is in good part about loneliness - the extreme physical, emotional and intellectual isolation of those who embark on an earnest mission, with an inability to compromise and a sincerity (with its resulting emotional vulnerability) which both frightens and repulses those who aren't ready to receive it. I was especially thankful to Bresson for having left us with a film about a priest which didn't involve his tiresome sexual issues in any shape or form - what a refreshing change! In the role of the young parish priest of Ambricourt, young Claude Laydu was in his debut role here - though he very occasionally shows his inexperience as an actor, he is nonetheless remarkable in the title role, and his sensitive, silently suffering, candid boyish face will remain with me for quite a while. It's extraordinary that such a movie, so completely devoid of any mass appeal or commercial potential, should have found someone willing to fund it. This kind of thing restores one's faith in the integrity and vision of certain cinematic enterprises.