BAMcinématek Presents: The Devil, Probably (Le diable probablement)

Part of the BAMcinématek series Bresson

Fri, Apr 20—Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Mon, Apr 23 & Wed, Apr 25, 2012 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 4:30, 9:30pm
Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 4:30, 6:50*, 9:30pm
*Intro and brief Q&A with Richard Hell

Directed by Robert Bresson
With Antoine Monnier

(1977) 95min, 35mm

Bresson’s screed against modern culture incited controversy by the French government (who believed it would instigate a rash of youth suicides) for its portrayal of five teenage intellectuals who grow increasingly disillusioned with society and religion—one of the group (Monnier) retreats into compulsive sex while plotting his suicide. Made when the director was nearly 80, this despairing, but “visually ravishing” (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon) manifesto is a deeply personal chronicle of the modern world as a spiritual wasteland—complete with footage of environmental degradation and nuclear destruction. Richard Hell called it “by far the most punk movie ever made.”

New print courtesy of The Film Desk and Olive Films