Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		5.0

Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 28, 2014

Nominated for Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, Robert Bresson's "Pickpocket" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an theatrical original trailer for the film; video introduction by writer-director Paul Schrader; Babette Mangolte's documentary film "The Models of Pickpocket" (2003); archival episode of the French television program Cinepanorama; Q&A session featuring actor Marika Green and filmmakers Paul Vecchiali and Jean-Pierre Ameris; archival clip from the show La piste aux etoiles; and audio commentary by film scholar James Quandt. Also included with this release is an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by novelist and film critic Gary Indiana. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Working...

Michel (Martin LaSalle) is a young loner who steals watches and wallets to make ends meet. He wants to be a writer, but he can’t force himself to stop stealing -- the thrill of stealing is like a drug to him and he can’t get enough of it.

At a racetrack, Michel is arrested by the police. He is asked a series of questions but is quickly released for lack of evidence. The experience convinces Michel that knowing how to quickly blend in with the crowd is just as important as knowing how to quietly empty a handbag.

Soon after, Michel meets another thief (Kassagi) on the Paris Metro. They immediately develop a bond and the far more experienced thief begins teaching Michel everything he knows about the art of stealing. The 'lessons' and Michel’s 'practice sessions' are amongst the best sequences in the entire film.

A third thief (the great comedian Pierre Etaix) joins the friends and they begin working as a team. Everything is so easy and feels so good that Michel can’t believe his luck -- it seems like it is only a matter of time now before he makes enough and effectively redirects his life, and perhaps even starts a family with Jeanne (Marika Green), the young and beautiful girl who has been taking care of his ill mother.

But when the two thieves are arrested, Michel is forced to go into exile. He makes big money in Milan, Rome, and London, but loses all of it in casinos and brothels. Two years later, Michel returns to Paris broke but wiser, and ready to start from scratch.

It has been said that Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket was inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment and Samuel Fuller’s cult hit Pickup on South Street, but the story the film tells is largely unimportant. Indeed, the focus of attention is on the unique atmosphere in it and the manner in which it evolves as Michel faces different dilemmas.

The film’s visual style is extraordinary -- the camera movement is well calculated, the framing is very precise (for example, there are no facial close-ups), and a number of transitions occur without big climatic moments. As a result, right until the final sequence -- where a very important emotional shift occurs -- the film looks almost unnervingly methodical and feels remarkably reserved.

All of the main protagonists are played by visibly overworked non-professional actors who speak only when they must. (Large portions of the film are silent). Their faces convey different emotions, but rarely reveal what they think or what their intentions are. This is all deliberate -- Bresson forces the viewer to study their movement and placement rather than focus on their trivial dilemmas.

The end result is a film that is seemingly wide open for interpretation. However, given that virtually all of Bresson’s films have some religious overtones, it isn’t difficult to argue that Michel’s journey is a symbolic one, to a larger extent reaffirming Bresson’s at times brittle faith in humanity and salvation.

Pickpocket was lensed by the great French cinematographer Léonce-Henri Burel (Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest and A Man Escaped, Abel Gance’s Napoléon).

Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Bresson's Pickpocket arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative at Digimage in Paris, where the film was also restored. The original monaural soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the original negative and the 35mm magnetic tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using iZotope RX 3.

Transfer supervisor: Mylene Bresson.
Colorist: Christophe Bousquet/Digiamge, Paris."

The new 2K digital restoration of this legendary film is every bit as impressive as the recent 2K restoration of Francois Truffaut's Jules and Jim (both of which were completed in France). Indeed, direct comparisons with Criterion's R1 DVD release of Pickpocket immediately reveal substantial improvements in all major areas we typically address in our reviews -- detail and clarity, image depth, contrast stability, and color saturation and balance. With a few minor exceptions where some sharpness fluctuations are present, all of which are clearly inherited, virtually all close-ups impress with excellent depth. More importantly, during extreme close-ups none of the blockiness from the DVD release is visible. Unsurprisingly, one can easily see extremely small details that are simply missing on the DVD release (see screencapture #1). Additionally, the nighttime footage looks sharper, but the sharpness is natural, not a byproduct of added digital enhancing (see screencapture #10). The blacks, whites, and the variety of grays are wonderfully well balanced, and from start to finish look vibrant and notably healthy. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening corrections. Finally, there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, or warps to report in this review. Overall image stability is very good and there are no serious transition issues. All in all, the new 2K restoration of Pickpocket undoubtedly represents a very strong and very convincing upgrade in quality over previous home video releases of the film. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The classic music that is heard throughout the film is lush and well rounded. The dialog and narration are crisp and have plenty of depth. Also, there are different sounds and noises that are exceptionally easy to identify (a passing car, a screeching door, street traffic, etc). However, because of the film's specific sound design dynamic activity is fairly modest. For the record, there are no audio dropouts, pops, crackle, background hiss -- clearly, some additional work has been done as the light hiss that pops up on the R1 DVD release is missing -- or distortions. The English translation is excellent.

Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Pickpocket. In French, with optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080i).

• Introduction - writer-director Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, Cat People) introduces Pickpocket and quickly explains why it became such an influential film. The introduction was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2004. (Please note that the introduction contains spoilers). In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080i).

• The Models of "Pickpocket" - presented here is a documentary film produced by filmmaker Babette Mangolte (Four Pieces by Morris) in 2003. In it three of the actors from Pickpocket recall their collaboration with director Robert Bresson, including the casting process, and discuss the characters they played. The final segment is particularly interesting as Babette Mangolte travels to Santa Rosa, Mexico, to meet Martin LaSalle, who discusses in great detail the "Bressonian experience". In French, with optional English subtitles. (53 min, 1080i).
  
  1. Pierre Leymarie (Jacques)
  2. Marika Green (Jeanne)
  3. Martin LaSalle (Michel)

• Cinepanorama - presented here is a 1960 episode of the French television program Cinepanorama in which Robert Bresson discusses Pickpocket with France Roche and Francois Chalais. The French director notes that he'd rather have people feel a film before understanding it. In French, with optional English subtitles. (7 min, 1080i).

• Q&A - this Q&A session was filmed after a screening of Pickpocket at the Reflet Mdicis cinema in Paris in 2000. Actor Marika Green and filmmakers Paul Vecchiali (Once More) and Jean-Pierre Ameris (Bad Company) quickly explain why Pickpocket is a magical film and discuss Robert Bresson's directing style (some of the best comments address the French director's his framing preferences). In French, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080i).

• Kassagi - presented here is an archival clip from the show La piste aux etoiles featuring Kassagi, a remarkable sleight-of-hand artist who shows off his skills in front of a large audience. Kassagi was a pickpocket consultant to director Robert Bresson and played the master thief Michel meets on the Paris Metro. In French, with optional English subtitles. (12 min, 1080i).

• Commentary - this audio commentary featuring James Quandt, senior programmer at TIFF Cinematheque and editor of Robert Bresson, was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2005. It initially appeared on the R1 DVD release of Pickpocket.

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by novelist and film critic Gary Indiana.

Pickpocket Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Masterfully crafted and profoundly moving, Robert Bresson's Pickpocket can evoke a wide range of emotions. To me, it is a deeply humanist film that sees people as I do -- imperfect and weak but willing to change and be good if given a chance. The new 2K restoration of Pickpocket is outstanding. The film looks fantastic on Blu-ray, unquestionably the best it ever has. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.