Despite having only directed thirteen features in a career that spanned nearly half a century, Robert Bresson is one of the most important and acclaimed filmmakers in cinema history. For example, consider that eight of his thirteen films are listed among the top 1,000 films of all time, as listed by the Web site They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? Since Bresson’s death in 1999, various companies like The Criterion Collection have helped to make most of his work accessible on DVD. However, there are a number of films that are still unavailable in the U.S. Most notably, his 1971 film Four Nights of a Dreamer is tied up in rights issues and is officially unavailable in any format. 1962’s The Trial of Joan of Arc has shown a few times on cable, but it too isn’t available on Region 1 DVD.
But most overlooked of all Bresson’s features is his first, the 1943 film Les Anges du Péché. Like his breakout film Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Anges is relatively conventional compared to the austere style most people expect from Bresson, utilizing professional actors and constructed sets rather than the “models” of his later work. However, Les Anges du Péché is valuable for the peek it gives us at Bresson’s sensibility- even at this early stage, many of the themes he would become associated with throughout his career were already in evidence. But the film’s fascination transcends auteurist reasons- I honestly think that it’s a masterpiece in its own right.
Les Anges du Péché is set in a Dominican convent in France comprised primarily of former prisoners who were brought into the fold upon their release. The nuns pay regular visits to the local jail, where they offer hope to the imprisoned women and encourage them to join the order when they are freed. A more cynical filmmaker might have portrayed the sisters as taking advantage of the prisoners by preying on the hopelessness of their lives, but Bresson doesn’t see it that way. The nuns clearly believe in their mission, and the newcomers are embraced by their new sisters and treated as equals.
The key player in the story is Anne-Marie (played by Renée Faure), a young girl who joins the convent near beginning of the film. Unlike most of her fellow novices, Anne-Marie has never been to prison, and indeed she comes from a wealthy family. But while she doesn’t have the hard-luck past that drew many of her sisters to the Lord, she has something most of them lack- pure, unblemished faith. She takes to heart the mission of the convent and makes it her own as well.
However, this faith also gets her into trouble with her sisters. Sister Anne-Marie is so intent on carrying out her mission that she becomes blinkered to practically everything else in her life. She neglects her day-to-day duties in favor of what she believes to be her higher calling, and for the sisters in charge this just won’t do. Like Bresson’s later films The Diary of a Country Priest and The Trial of Joan of Arc, Les Anges du Péché deals with the struggle between worldly necessity and one’s spiritual mission. Sister Anne-Marie’s powerful faith makes her almost childlike, and in an adult world, even one bound by religious beliefs, this can be difficult to take.
Yet as difficult as she can be, Anne-Marie’s sisters are also fascinated by her, and so is the film. She’s a great character- “good, but stubborn; simple, but proud; intelligent, but impassioned,” says another sister- and indeed what makes her so compelling is the contradictions that arise from her seemingly one-track personality. To quote the Reverend Mother, “is it the well-behaved or impossible child St. Benoit says we should heed?” Bresson also explicitly connects Sister Anne-Marie with St. Francis of Assisi, another who left the lap of luxury to devote himself to God. If St. Francis can achieve sainthood in this way, why shouldn’t Anne-Marie try to do so as well?
Sister Anne-Marie’s mission becomes explicit when she visits the prison one day and meets the troublesome inmate Thérèse (Jany Holt). With the help of Reverend Mother, she tries to rescue Thérèse, but Thérèse resists. But Anne-Marie persists, always remembering the maxim by Catherine of Siena, “If you hear the word of God binding you to another soul, heed no others, for they are but its echo.” Eventually, the day after her release, Thérèse changes her mind and joins the order, but she has a secret- she has killed the man who put her behind bars, and is using the convent to hide out from the
law. Throughout the film, Bresson contrasts the two characters. First Thérèse is mostly loyal to Anne-Marie, but as Anne-Marie’s headstrong nature gets her into more trouble with the other sisters, they drift apart. There’s a certain irony in the fact that the saintly Anne-Marie has such trouble fitting in while the sinner Thérèse finds a niche with little problem.
But then, true believers of any stripe have always been outcasts. Indeed, by living entirely for God- she doesn’t even pray to the saints, addressing her prayers directly to Him- she willfully separates herself from the lifestyles and concerns of those around her. It’s just her nature, and to compromise herself simply to avoid rocking the boat just isn’t consistent with her character. As his career progressed, Bresson’s work became increasingly uncompromised, and it’s clear when watching Les Anges du Péché that Bresson was more than a little in awe of his heroine. Perhaps as Sister Anne-Marie yearned to be as good as St. Francis, so Bresson was always striving to be as passionate and unyielding as Sister Anne-Marie. If that was his goal, I’d say he succeeded marvelously.