The Devil Probably | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Bresson |
Written by | Robert Bresson |
Produced by | Stéphane Tchalgadjieff |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis |
Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
The Devil Probably (French : Le Diable probablement), also spelled The Devil, Probably is a 1977 French drama film directed by Robert Bresson. It was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize. [1]
German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was on that particular jury, and championed Bresson's film:
Robert Bresson's Le Diable probablement ... is the most shattering film I've seen this Berlin Festival. I think it's a major film [...]. [I]n the future—and this world will probably last for another few thousand years—this film will be more important than all the rubbish which is now considered important but which never really goes deep enough[.] The questions Bresson asks will never be unimportant." [2]
Fassbinder would go on to refer to the film in his own 1979 film Die Dritte Generation , [3] where a character remarks that it is "a sad movie", but "so long as the movies are sad, our lives can stay funny".
The critic J. Hoberman described the film with one sentence: "A Dostoyevskian story of a tormented soul, presented in the stylized manner of a medieval illumination." [4] Richard Hell described the film as "by far the most punk movie ever." [5]
The Devil Probably was Bresson's penultimate work, preceding his 1983 film L'Argent .
Upon release, the film was banned in France for those aged under eighteen because of its suicidal themes. [6] [7]
Robert Bresson was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of minimalist film. Much of his work is known for being tragic in story and nature.
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The 27th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 24 June to 5 July 1977. The festival opened with Nickelodeon by Peter Bogdanovich.
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