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Critics Consensus: Diary of a Country Priest brilliantly captures one man's spiritual and religious journey -- and the striking next phase in the evolution of a major filmmaking talent.
Critic Consensus: Diary of a Country Priest brilliantly captures one man's spiritual and religious journey -- and the striking next phase in the evolution of a major filmmaking talent.
All Critics (36) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (2) | DVD (3)
The chance to see Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest... should not be passed up; it is an enterprise of great pith and moment in the history of cinema.
A film like Diary of a Country Priest gathers its strength as it continues. There's always the sense that Bresson knows exactly where he's going and the simplest way to get there.
Bresson's third feature and in many ways his first major work.
A film that words fail.
The word 'sublime' has often been used to describe this Robert Bresson masterpiece, a slow-paced film of great purity that portrays the pain and occasional joy of the religious life.
The full scope of the film's brilliance hits you with the force of a knockout punch.
Bernanos' Catholic yoke via Robert Bresson's agnostic compassion, an incomparable flow of encounters and challenges
Bresson's cinematographic tour de force is still incredibly impressive and affecting.
This sublime picture is directed by Robert Bresson, who painstakingly crafts his signature visuals -- stark, forceful and rigorous in their attention to detail -- to bring a striking luminosity to the bleak events.
Diary is less a movie about the necessity of faith than what it means to be cut down in the midst of youthful idealism and intransigence, before life offers wisdom.
...about the unexpected - and little understood - intermingling of the earthly and the divine.
Writer/director Robert Bresson adapts his first Georges Bernanos novel (the second, 1967's "Mouchette," plays almost like a mirror image) for his moving paean to spirituality and grace achieved despite great obstacles.
I was extremely dissapointed. The biggest problem was the voice over. I mean I'd she motions for you to sit, you don't have to tell me I can see it. I can when you're having a meal, it felt like an audio book. While yes it was entertaining and fairly sad that voice over just ruined the whole thing for me
Super Reviewer
I know "Diary of a Country Priest" is a universally renowned classic but, sorry, I really did not enjoy this much. I can't relate to wallowing in this sort of miserable piety, and the lead actor has the same dazed, wounded expression on his face throughout the entire film. I have a pet peeve about overuse of narration which this movie certainly violated, and the shapeless, orchestral smears of the score seem quite maudlin and old-fashioned today. I can easily imagine someone else raving about how delicate and lovely Bresson's directing touch is, but I was counting the minutes until the finish. If I crave an old film about a troubled priest, I'll reach for "Nazarin" or "Winter Light" instead.
I was extremely underwhelmed. SOOOO much unnecessary voice over, it really felt like Bresson didn't know how to make a film visually so he just patched things up with talking. Memo to you Robert it's a VISUAL medium. Check out Winter Light instead, it's more or less the same movie except made by a true master of the art form.
Plot: Journal d'un cure de Campagne is about a young priest who, whilst suffering from an illness, is assigned to a new parish in a French country village. The story is told by the priests recounting of his experiences in his diary.
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