Leon Morin, pretre / Leon Morin, Priest(1961)
Leon Morin, pretre / Leon Morin, Priest(1961)
PAL | VIDEO_TS | DVD9 | 16:9 | 720x576 | 5800 kbps | 7.0Gb
Audio: French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: English
01:57:00 | France, Italy | Drama, Romance
PAL | VIDEO_TS | DVD9 | 16:9 | 720x576 | 5800 kbps | 7.0Gb
Audio: French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: English
01:57:00 | France, Italy | Drama, Romance
During the Nazi occupation of France, a troubled young woman, also an atheist, meets a priest who converts her to Catholicism.
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva, Irene Tunc, Nicole Mirel, Gisele Grimm, Marco Behar, Monique Bertho, Marc Eyraud, Nina Gregoire, Monique Hennessy, Edith Loria, Micheline Schererre, Renee Liques, Simone Vannier, Lucienne Marchand, Nelly Pitorre, Ernest Varial, Chantal Gozzi, Cedric Grant, George Lambert, Marielle Gozzi, Patricia Gozzi, Gerard Buhr, Howard Vernon, Claude Achard, Andre Badin, Madeleine Ganne, Adeline Aucoc, Louis Sainteve, Volker Schlondorff
Emmanuele Riva (Hiroshima mon amour) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (A bout de souffle) star in this story of an unfulfilled love affair set against the troubled backdrop of the French Occupation. The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Batrix Beck and adapted for the screen by Melville.
Barny (Riva) is a young widow. She is also a militant communist and atheist who one day enters a church and randomly picks a priest to taunt. Her target, Lon Morin, is a young, handsome and charismatic Catholic priest, unconventional in his religious approach. The two begin a platonic relationship, but soon Barny's admiration for Morin turns to desire and he becomes the object of her romantic obsession.
Melville's original version of the film ran for over three hours but he re-cut it, relinquishing much of the historical background in order to focus on the unfulfilled love affair between Barny and Morin.
Barny's thoughts and emotions are laid bare, in contrast to Morin, who remains somewhat remote and enigmatic. With an erotically charged performance from Belmondo, Lon Morin, prtre (Leon Morin, Priest) is Melville's most mainstream work and the closest he came to making a 'woman's film'. It was also the surprise success of his career, both critically and at the box office.
Leon Morin, pretre / Leon Morin, Priest(1961)
Extras
- Filmed introduction and commentary over selected scenes by French cinema expert and Melville biographer Ginette Vincendeau
- Video interview with assistant director Volker Schlndorff
- Original trailer
- Director's biography
IMDb
In World War II, the widow Barny sees the Italian soldiers arriving in occupied Saint Bernard while walking to her job. Barny lives with her daughter and works correcting tests and feels a great attraction toward her boss Sabine. When the Germans arrive, Barny sends her half-Jewish daughter to live in a farm in the countryside and finds that Sabine's brother has been arrested and sent to a concentration camp. The atheist Barny decides to baptize her daughter to protect her and chooses priest Leon Morin to discuss with him themes related to religion and Catholicism and Leon lends books to her. Barny converts to the Catholicism and becomes closer to Leon, feeling an unrequited desire for him.
Leon Morin, pretre / Leon Morin, Priest(1961)
Leon Morin, pretre / Leon Morin, Priest(1961)
