critics consensus

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

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Pickpocket Photos

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Movie Info

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.

Genre:

crime, drama
Original Language:

French (Canada)
Director:

Robert Bresson
Producer:

Agnès Delahaie
Writer:

Robert Bresson
Release Date (Theaters):

May 26, 1963 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Mar 11, 2017
Runtime:

1h 15m
Sound Mix:

Mono

Cast & Crew

Martin La Salle
Michel

Marika Green
Jeanne

Pierre Leymarie
Jacques

Jean Pélégri
Chief Inspector

Dolly Scal
La mère

Kassagi
1er complice

Show all Cast & Crew

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Critic Reviews for Pickpocket

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (2)

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.

January 11, 2020 | Full Review…

Eric Rhode
Sight & Sound
The movie, above all, affirms the miracle of redemptive love and its price in humility and unconditional surrender.

March 4, 2019 | Full Review…

Richard Brody
New Yorker
A picture so original in style that it sometimes seems downright peculiar.

March 5, 2013 | Full Review…

TIME Magazine
A marvel of poise and circumspect emotion from French auteur Robert Bresson.

March 5, 2013 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
It is, at base, about self-fulfilment and redemption through love -- a common enough idea in films. But this 1959 epic has seldom been equalled as a philosophical treatise on the subject.

March 5, 2013 | Full Review…

Derek Malcolm
Guardian
Robert Bresson made this short electrifying study in 1959; it's one of his greatest and purest films, full of hushed transgression and sudden grace.

March 5, 2013 | Full Review…

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
[Robert] Bresson always choses the most realistic settings and situations. He makes a great use of two of film's most credible devices: the narration and the printed word.

January 23, 2020 | Full Review…

Paul Schrader
Los Angeles Free Press
Pickpocket is a film that puts the characters directly into a frame of judgment and asks the viewer if they would really try to understand the character's side of the story.

September 25, 2019 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Shikhar Verma
High on Films
Bresson always tells his story obliquely, so he never lets narrative suspense build, or emotional intensity be foregrounded... In short, a masterpiece.

April 25, 2019 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…

Tony McKibbin
The List
Pickpocket is an intricately staged, truly intimate character study from the imitable Robert Bresson instantly solidifying itself as one of his greatest works.

June 1, 2017 | Full Review…

Tynan Yanaga
Film Inquiry
... it's the strange quality of non-actor Martin LaSalle that sets the film apart. Is he as dead inside as he appears to the outside world? His criminal existence alienates him from the people he cares about even as he continues to pursue it.

October 6, 2014 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Eric Melin
Lawrence.com
This mysterious film composed of silence and emptiness accumulates extraordinary power, and unleashes it in a profoundly moving moment.

August 3, 2014 | Rating: 10/10 | Full Review…

Christopher Long
Movie Metropolis

View All Critic Reviews (40)

Audience Reviews for Pickpocket

Apr 21, 2014

Bresson's unemotional style and wooden performances may not be accessible to everyone but it is impressive how he holds our interest in the many minutiae of the pickpocketing sleight of hand tricks, making them seem more like an art than a condemnable deed.

Carlos M Super Reviewer
Apr 19, 2013

Pickpocket is the glorious story of a pickpocket in the world inhabited by other grifters. It is a very memorable tale.

John B Super Reviewer
Apr 25, 2011

The appeal of "Pickpocket" is less about its story (the title is self-explanatory) and more about the deft economy of Robert Bresson's direction. Not a stroke is wasted. The depictions of intricate, tag-team pickpocket moves are especially sharp -- the eye can barely follow the action. "Pickpocket" has one glaring handicap: The untrained actors look strangely dazed throughout the film. This may be an intentional effect, but their stupor leaves little room for an emotional connection. Luckily, the movie is over so soon that it never has a chance to turn dull.

Eric B Super Reviewer
May 12, 2010

Pickpocket influenced Paul Schrader's film works "Taxi Driver", "American Gigolo", and "Light Sleeper". The story of a young man living as a lonely man pickpocketing ppls wallet for a living. He's living in guilt and a beautiful french woman seems to be his only salvation. Robert Bresson known as the Christian among filmmakers makes this gentle fascinating picture.

Brian R Super Reviewer