Le Diable Probablement (1977)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 95 minuten
Alternative title: The Devil, Probably
Country:
France
Directed by: Robert Bresson
Stars: Antoine Monnier, Tina Irissari and Henri de Maublanc
IMDb score:
7,0 (5.505)
Releasedate: 15 June 1977
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Le Diable Probablement plot
Charles is a student who comes into contact with politics, religion and psychoanalysis, but none of the three can interest him. He becomes more and more convinced of the idea that the society in which he lives is morally decayed. As a result, he comes to hate the world wholeheartedly, and he wants to commit suicide.
Reviews & comments
wendyvortex
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- 5237 messages
- 7291 votes
Finally, a Robert Bresson film that I can really appreciate!!
Not light fare as is usual with Bresson (Michael Haneke makes comedies compared to Bresson), but this time the characters are a bit more relatable and less distant.
1977: the hippies are on drugs, the environment is going to hell, and the only prospect is a job at a big company.
The main characters are all highly educated students looking for a way out, with Charles finding life completely meaningless.
Beautifully filmed this time and loaded with some shocking images, such as the clubbing to death of baby seals and severely disabled children as a result of mercury poisoning as fetuses... an evening of entertainment is something else entirely, but in its darkness, it is certainly a beautiful film, a relatable film, and a film that has lost little of its relevance.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Spetie
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- 38871 messages
- 8351 votes
It had been a while since I had seen anything by Bresson. Le Diable Probablement is, in any case, one that belongs among his better works. A typical example of a ticking time bomb that gets better and better the more and longer you think about it.
It took me a little while to get into it as well. But once you are hooked, an interesting and captivating story unfolds of a man who, at a certain point, feels completely hopeless. The approach is, as always with Bresson, very minimalist, as is the accompanying acting. Nevertheless, Charles is a character whose train of thought I could follow well. Bresson portrays it all powerfully, and the melancholic atmosphere, in particular, which reveals Charles's hopeless state of existence, is very well rendered.
I also found it to be one of those films that gets stronger and stronger as the ending approaches. The ending is truly incredibly intense and powerful. I naturally expected suicide, which would eventually have taken place. But the fact that Charles gets shot dead just before he has said everything and is “ready” for it, really hit hard. Truly very impressive, and it also ensures that the film really sticks with me. The first twenty minutes might be a bit of a struggle, but the reward afterwards is certainly worth it.
4.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
El Loco
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- 1212 messages
- 2468 votes
A difficult film by Bresson. As far as I know his oeuvre, this is a typical Bresson, with the emotionless acting standing out and close-ups of all kinds of actions and body parts. The man certainly has a very recognizable style, and if you are in the mood for a feel-good movie, a Bresson film is not the best choice.
In L'Argent, for example, I thought it all worked quite well, but in this film that is less the case. Although Bresson has succeeded in establishing a sad and dark atmosphere (the images of the environment going to ruin, the clubbing to death of the little seal...) and the road to Charles's suicide is just barely compelling enough (at the beginning we see 2 contradictory newspaper articles in which one talks about suicide and the other about murder), it is still difficult to follow all his trains of thought regarding the suicide he wants to commit.
The ending, however, is one that does make an impression when Charles pauses briefly at the window of a house where the television is playing. For a moment, I got the feeling he was hesitating about continuing, but his decision was final. Quite a creepy moment, just like when he is actually shot by his friend, but wanted to say something at that very moment.
I do understand the appreciation for this film, but it doesn't really work for me when it is almost impossible to fathom the main character's thought processes.
2.5*
Translated from Dutch · View originalLatest News
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