The Devil Probably (Le diable probablement)

Critics Consensus

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79%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 19

77%

Audience Score

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Movie Info

In order to be technically free of the mortal sin of suicide, a young man who has given up on the world pays a drug-addict to shoot him. Charles (Antoine Monnier), who is a student, has tried political action and investigated the claims of religion but ultimately finds nothing which will change the overwhelming bleakness he feels surrounded by. In this austere movie by director Robert Bresson, the power of the storytelling comes from the lucidity of the imagery captured on film, rather than in the acting. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Cast

Antoine Monnier
as Charles
Tina Irissari
as Alberte
Laetita Carcano
as Edwige
Regis Hanrion
as Dr. Mime
Henri DeMaublanc
Nicolas Deguy
Geoffroy Gaussen
Roger Hinorat
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Critic Reviews for The Devil Probably (Le diable probablement)

All Critics (19) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (4)

  • Not a masterwork perhaps, but certainly the work of a master, and, judging from the work of many of his young French disciples (including Leos Carax), one of his most influential features.

    Mar 5, 2013 | Full Review…

    Jonathan Rosenbaum

    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic

  • Bresson, as always, holds on to that grace, gives us that beauty. While watching this great rapt film, with its hideous vision of a moral void, we almost can see light flickering in darkness, feel a spirit descending.

    Mar 5, 2013 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

    Michael Wilmington

    Chicago Tribune
    Top Critic

  • Both the world and Bresson's cinema are in disarray, and the signs of his inner conflict are deeply troubling and tremendously moving.

    Mar 5, 2013 | Full Review…

    Richard Brody

    New Yorker
    Top Critic

  • Hold on to something, Bresson implies, or you may fall in love with boredom itself. See it for the mood.

    Apr 17, 2012 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Joshua Rothkopf

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • Its case is presented rather than argued: one buys its cosmic bleakness or one doesn't, but there is no doubt about the conviction with which it is put.

    Jan 26, 2006 | Full Review…

    Verina Glaessner

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • No other director I can think of has come as close as Bresson to molding his players into what are, in effect, variations on a continuing personality, much the way a painter might.

    May 20, 2003

    Caryn James

    New York Times
    Top Critic
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Audience Reviews for The Devil Probably (Le diable probablement)

  • Mar 16, 2017
    Bresson's style is all there and it is clear that he wants to make a direct statement in what turns out to be a very political film, but sadly his usual austerity feels a bit off with the kind of story he wants to tell, and so the result seems more pretentious than it is compelling.
    Carlos M Super Reviewer
  • Apr 26, 2012
    In "The Devil Probably," the cause of death of a young man is upgraded from suicide to murder. Six months previously, apparently tired of watching films of cute baby seals being clubbed to death, Alberte(Tina Irissari) leaves Michel(Henri de Maublanc) for Charles(Antoine Monnier), despite the latter's lack of a fixed abode, thus risking her relationship with her parents. That's even though Charles is carrying on with Edwige(Laetitia Carcano) who is having other affairs of her own. "The Devil Probably" does not have a plot in any conventional sense of the word. Rather, it is concerned with some issues that are still relevant to the youth of today, such as the poisoning of the environment. Luckily, nuclear armageddon is no longer such a nightmarish possibility while nuclear waste is still on the table. In this world of possibly no future where religion's influence is on the wane, at least Michael is putting up a fight while Charles just goes around in circles. None of that excuses the flat line readings, especially considering the momentous decisions at stake.
    Walter M Super Reviewer
  • Aug 28, 2008
    Let's be honest,few movies have grappled youth's troublesome occasions and personal scales.What forms this veil of coughing smoke is our social filth,the end of it all.Albert puts it in greater holocaust: "revolution will seize to exist".As is revolution ever occurred in the first place....
    Dimitris S Super Reviewer
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