Martin LaSalle’s thievery has already led to jail time, yet he digs in to study the art of pickpocketing. Nothing will deter him from his self-prescribed existence; not the illness of mother Dolly Scal, not the hope of redemption with Marika Green, and not watchful Inspector Jean Pélégri. Aside from the verisimilitude of its depiction of the criminal acts, Bresson’s film still startles with its compact telling and psychological acuity. Featuring the great comedic actor/filmmaker Pierre Étaix, in his first movie.

In French with English subtitles