Hah!

Bresson's style doesn't fit this story very well and, especially at the beginning, it was way too detached and stilted. But slowly and steadily his vision for the story began to reveal itself and things got better and better. I like Visconti's version much more but this is still a very worthwhile take on a wonderful short story.

Based on the same Dostoyevsky story as La Notti Bianche, it's hard for me to say which I like better. I'm more naturally inclined towards Bresson's style than Visconti's, but I do like how Visconti made the characters harder to like. I think I'd give it a very slight edge over this one... it's my favorite Visconti, while this is only so-so for Bresson. But they're both worth watching, especially to see how two very different directors handle the same material.