A forged 500-franc note is passed from person to person and shop to shop, until it falls into the hands of a genuine innocent who doesn't see it for what it is - which will have devastating consequences on his life, causing him to turn to crime and murder.
This is a return to the extremes of crime and punishment that Bresson last used in Pickpocket; and as in that film, crime is a model of redemption and prison a metaphor for the soul.
– ,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
It's tough but it's also rewarding.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
Bresson -- who was eighty-two years old when the film came out, and clearly in no mood for mellowing -- frames the acts of wickedness, both great and small, with a terrifying calm.
– Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
5 Mar 2013
fresh:
A harrowing scour of ideological cinema.
– Michael Atkinson,
Village Voice,
5 Mar 2013
fresh:
Bresson, working his sound track as assiduously as his visuals, once again makes us realize how little use most films make of the resources of the cinema. A masterpiece.