Léon Morin, Priest
9 /10 1 Votes
4/4 Roger Ebert 4.5/5 Blu-ray Genre Drama, Romance Music director Martial Solal Country France | 7.8/10 IMDb 95% Rotten Tomatoes Director Jean-Pierre Melville Initial DVD release July 1, 2011 Duration Language French | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 22 September 1961 (1961-09-22) Based on Leon Morin, pretre
by Beatrix Beck Writer Beatrix Beck (novel), Jean-Pierre Melville (screenplay) Initial release September 22, 1961 (France) Cast Jean-Paul Belmondo (Leon Morin), Emmanuelle Riva (Barny), Irène Tunc (Christine Sangredin), Nicole Mirel (Sabine Levy), Gisèle Grimm (Lucienne), Marco Behar (Edelman)Similar movies Related Jean-Pierre Melville movies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L on morin priest 1961 trailer criterion
Léon Morin, Priest (French: Léon Morin, prêtre) is a 1961 film directed and scripted by Jean-Pierre Melville, and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Emmanuelle Riva. Belmondo was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. It is based on the 1952 Prix Goncourt-winning novel The Passionate Heart (French: Léon Morin, prêtre) by Béatrix Beck.
Contents
Plot
In a town in the French Alps during the Occupation, Barny (Riva) is a young, wayward, sexually frustrated widow, living with her little girl. She is also a communist militant who long ago decided that the easiest way was the best. One day she enters a church, randomly chooses a priest (Belmondo) to confess to and, while in confessional, attempts to provoke him by criticizing Catholicism. Instead of being affronted, the priest engages her in an intellectual discussion regarding religion. The priest is Leon Morin, young, handsome, smart and altruistic. He invites Barny to continue the conversation outside of confessional. She begins regularly seeing him and is impressed by his moral strength, while he makes it his mission to steer her onto the right path.
Cast
Home video
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection in July 2011.
