The Diary of a Country Priest

An austere look at the experiences of a young priest in a small French parish, Robert Bresson's masterly Le Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) presents a powerful, complex exploration of faith underneath a deceptively simple exterior. Drawn from a novel by Georges Bernanos, ...more

Robert Bresson's portrait of a man in physical and spiritual crisis is deceptively austere. That is, the film's unadorned technique belies the rich subtext; Bresson almost ambushes the viewer with scene after powerful scene of intense drama. The main character, never identified by name, is a young man who is in poor health, a man who cannot communicate effectively with people in a profession dedicated to helping them, a man who is supposed to answer questions of faith but has doubts about his ...more