Diary of a Country Priest
NR, 110 min.
Directed by Robert Bresson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christian Patey, Caroline Lang.

Bresson’s adaptation of Georges Bernanos’ novel about the suffering of a young priest is generally regarded as one of the filmmaker’s best. it’s one of the most prosaically religious movies ever made. Bresson’s priest tries to share his spirituality with his parishioners, who respond with indifference. The austere simplicity of his life is out of sync with the lives of his congregrants. He reads aloud from his diary and continues with his holy work. Pauline Kael describes it as “a film of great purity and, at the end, of Bach-like intensity.”

This article appears in September 22 • 2000.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.