One of the great spiritual films of all time, and the film where Bresson's distinctive style really begins to round into form. The film chronicles the faith struggles of a priest and his parishioners, ebbing and flowing between moments of utter despair and of profound hope. The intense focus on the priest as he suffers his way to sainthood presents an almost unique portrait in film: that of a truly good man. Bresson is to be commended for adapting Bernanos' vision in such a successful way.

I love these crisis of faith stories. Bresson treats it with grace and subtlety, removing all inessential elements and crafting a film of profound thought and beauty. For all the Priest's hardships, the overall tone remains optimistic and hopeful.

Considering that it had a PSI of 96, this was a major disappointment. It's skillfully made, sure, and well-acted to boot. However, the seeming lack of direction and the (almost provocatively) slow pace in Bresson's storytelling tested my patience and made me lose consciousness almost as often as the protagonist. For a tighter film with more finely tuned points on theology and faith, watch Dreyer's 'Ordet'.

My reaction says more about my tastes than about the film. My love for a film will more often come far more from an emotional connection than from anything intellectual (even something like Last Year at Marienbad I adore for emotional reasons). Throughout Diary I found the ideas interesting and the character study well put together, however I always felt significantly at arm's length with it. My experience with the film was a not wholly unsatisfying one however it was certainly a very cold one.

Powerful imagery and acting, but moves in a horribly slow fashion. I don't usually mind slow movies, but I had to struggle through this one.

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I really admire it but don't love it to pieces. Bresson has this effect on me a lot; I think his films are great but don't truly get into a lot of them. At least this centred on a religious character questioning himself, which is something I'm a sucker for.

I always love movies that make me feel for a character.

#246

Top10

The struggle of doing good when everyone is against you.

Bresson exemplified 20th-century ecumenical intelligence that is much out of fashion today, yet remains singular and powerful.

"Bresson sees spiritual disorder as a disease, not unlike the stomach cancer we suspect is-and is ultimately confirmed to be-plaguing our titular character." - Rob Humanick

# 208

As a story about a country priest it's not that great. We never really get to know him, despite how much we're told about his thoughts through his diary and through his actions. The real strength lies in the characterizations of the townspeople and their interactions with the priest. It's through them that Bresson shows his love/hate relationship with humanity. It does get a bit preachy at times, but not more than would be expected in a movie where a young ambitious priest plays the central role

I really appreciate the subtlety in the way the story is told. Laydu is clearly an expert actor and Bresson is obviously a master as well. There is so much that I personally relate to in this movie that it easily places it among my favorites. I can't recommend this one more highly to anyone with even a passing interest in theology or anyone who has struggled with faith at all. It's brilliant and highly enjoyable.

I usually have a high tolerance when it comes to "boring" movies, but this one really just didn't grab my interest. It's a little too overly dramatic as well.

A real snoozer. Bresson handles similar issues to better effect in Les Anges du Peche.

Vastly inferior to other early films by Bresson. It doen't suck but it's meandering and way too full of religious crap for its own sake. It continually insists that our priest is tormented by this and that, but more often than not it's hard to tell why exactly.

Graceful and powerful. Claude Laydu's performance as the priest under physical and spiritual anguish is fantastic, carried not only through his words (and writings, as is) but with emotive facial expressions. Bresson's minimalist style is highly effective, and the beauty and grace of his direction perfectly suits the material: his gorgeous black-and-white photography, the perfect framing, the subtlety of the entire film.

Very intimate portrait of a man disintegrating. It will become very obvious while you're watching it where Scorsese sto-, er, I mean, borrowed a lot of the ideas for _Taxi Driver_