About

"We are pushing the love of style to the point of an obsession. Film is the definition of an art that requires a style: it takes an auteur, a signature." – Robert Bresson

Filmed during the German occupation of France – and following Bresson’s own release from a prisoner of war camp – Angels of Sin marked the director’s return to filmmaking after his 1934 short Public Affairs.

Co-written with dramatist Jean Giraudoux and Dominican priest Raymond Léopold Bruckberger, it is the story of Anne-Marie, a young woman who abandons her comfortable life to become a nun at a convent dedicated to rehabilitating women prisoners. When the new prisoner Thérèse refuses her outreach, Anne-Marie becomes obsessive in her attempts to reform her unwavering charge.

Shot in a more traditionally French romantic style than Bresson’s later films, Angels of Sin is nevertheless still suffused with many of the director’s recurring thematic concerns. It considers notions of redemption, salvation and captivity, while fascinating omissions prefigure his increasingly elliptical storytelling. On its own terms, the film remains an engrossing drama and a moving study of the weight of devotion.

This screening is presented in partnership with Alliance Française de Brisbane.

Ages 15+