The Cinematheque

“By far the most punk movie ever made.”

Richard Hell

Bresson’s penultimate film was his most controversial: The Devil, Probably was prohibited in France to viewers under 18 on the grounds it might incite suicide, and ignited a jury revolt at the Berlinale, where R.W. Fassbinder and British critic Derek Malcolm went public with their anger that it had not won top prize (it was awarded a Special Jury Prize instead). A work of bleak but stirring beauty, the film traces the last six months in the life of a Parisian youth who, horrified by a world of spiritual and physical pollution, rejects the conventional solutions (politics, religion, psychoanalysis) offered by society. ​“My sickness,” he says, ​“is that I see clearly.” Bresson considered The Devil, Probably to be his most contemporary work; one of his gravest too: ​“I hope with all my heart that the young will deploy all the power of their youth against the massive forces of demolition that are ravaging the world.”

In French with English subtitles

The opening-night screening of The Devil, Probably will be introduced by filmmaker Antoine Bourges (Concrete Valley, East Hastings Pharmacy).

“Bresson’s best film since Pickpocket … Even though Bresson has painted a dark picture of wasted youth and beauty, one comes out of the film with a sense of exaltation. When a civilization can produce a work of art as perfectly achieved as this, it is hard to believe that there is no hope for it.”

Richard Roud, Robert Bresson

“The Devil, Probably has the force of a revelation, even on repeat encounters … An existential horror movie … [It] can still trigger a shock of recognition: Charles’s world is ours.”

Dennis Lim, Artforum