Salvation comes on footsteps
January 2009
I was watching the Powell & Pressburger film, The Small Back Room, in August, and had an epiphany connecting it to Bresson's Pickpocket. Outrageous possibly, certainly intriguing. Anyway it's all in the short essay (including some images to back up my argument) in pdf format (3 pages). Give it a try.
In the same vein, it has long been recognized that Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street could well have been seen by Bresson and its opening scene was one of the inspirations for Pickpocket. As a petty thief picks the purse of a young woman on the subway in New York, the scene is full of glances, of bodily contact that is no contact, and of hands exploring with great delicacy. Compare these images (Pickup on left, Pickpocket on right):
