Pickpocket

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Pickpocket

1963

1h 15m

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Michel (Martin La Salle) takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques (Pierre Leymarie), and his mother's neighbor Jeanne (Marika Green), Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector (Jean Pélégri) keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

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Critics Consensus

Narratively spare and told with clockwork precision, Pickpocket is a carefully observed character study that packs an emotional wallop.

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

06/03/2022

5/5

A short and flawless wonder.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

05/31/2022

5/5

Hypnotically intense and lucid...

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Eric Rhode

Sight & Sound

01/11/2020

At first one may be impressed by the mystery surrounding these characters, until one realises that they are only mysterious because they are unable to create their own destinies.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

05/04/2024

[Robert Bresson's] austere style, emotionless direction, and minimalist scripts can become frustrating if you don’t connect. But there’s a purity in his ambition to pare away everything but the essential elements of cinema.

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Dilys Powell

Sunday Times (UK)

08/10/2022

The style of the film is characteristic of the director... But this time the method defeats itself. In rejecting every irrelevant action, in ruthlessly refining away every decoration, Bresson has thrown away the motives as well.

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Rob Aldam

Backseat Mafia

07/07/2022

A wonderfully flowing character study which treads the border between sanity and lunacy.

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Kyle M

@RT77296778 Aug 21

Monotonously traced and performed with tactical criticism that doesn’t convince, Robert Bresson’s influential stance on morality treads daily connective interactions amid a substantially dedicative character study. (B)

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Tim M

@tgmacman Jul 1

An aloof yet layered treatise on the economy of touch, Pickpocket is as steady and precise as its titular thief.

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jacob c

@RT09118617 06/01/2025

I found Pickpocket to be an expertly crafted portrait of cynicism, escapism and alienation.

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Lars N

@movie_douche 03/03/2025

Not much of a story to grab on to.... Guy's being a dick throughout the film, and the woman somehow falls in love him anyway.

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Alexsander F

@Aelxs 02/16/2025

Um bom filme do ponto de vista cinematográfico e de roteiro, mas confesso que foi meio difícil de assistir, mesmo sendo um longa breve.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 11/29/2024

Only a short watch at an hour and a quarter but still this dragged. A promising start gives way to French philosophical stiltedness and I never cared for the characters. It was a pretty dull piece of cinema that I don’t wish to see again but it cost me a little to get a copy for the library. Watched it on Blu-ray.

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Robert Bresson

Director

Martin LaSalle

Michel

Marika Green

Jeanne

Pierre Leymarie

Jacques

Jean Pélégri

Chief Inspector

Dolly Scal

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Synopsis

Michel (Martin La Salle) takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques (Pierre Leymarie), and his mother's neighbor Jeanne (Marika Green), Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector (Jean Pélégri) keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

Director: Robert Bresson
Producer: Agnès Delahaie
Screenwriter: Robert Bresson
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): May 26, 1963, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Runtime: 1h 15m
Sound Mix: Mono