Diary of a Country Priest (1951) on Netflix
A sickly priest arrives at his first parish in Ambricourt, where the villagers keep their distance. He asks the Count to fund a youth club. The family's troubles draw him in.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.7/1013,824 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Trailer
Plot summary
The new priest of Ambricourt keeps a diary in which he sets down his inexperience, his worsening health, and his doubts about his faith. An undiagnosed stomach ailment leaves him eating little but bread, wine, and sugar. Only Miss Louise comes to daily mass. Hoping to win the village over, he asks the Count of Ambricourt for money for a youth club and sports program, but his mentor, the priest of Torcy, tells him that obedience follows from respect, not love. In the Count's household, the Countess has withdrawn since her son's death, the Count keeps company with Louise, Chantal's governess, and Chantal resents it.
Cast
- Bernard Hubrenneas Prêtre Dufrety
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriters Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost wrote an adaptation of Georges Bernanos' novel, but Bernanos rejected their draft. François Truffaut called it unfaithful to the novel's letter and spirit; among its cuts was the closing line, "All is grace."
- Martin Scorsese cited Diary of a Country Priest as an influence on Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver's script, called it a major influence on his 2017 film First Reformed.
- Bresson cast non-professional actors he called "models" and deliberately constrained their movements and expressions. He had them repeat takes until they lost all sense of their actions and moved or spoke "automatically", believing the lack of emotive display left more room for the audience.
- Diary of a Country Priest was Bresson's first film to use a complex soundtrack and voice-over narration, with commentary drawn from the diary and dialogue often given over to debates on spiritual and ethical matters.
- Hong Sang-soo said that watching Diary of a Country Priest inspired him to become a feature filmmaker, and that he says "All is grace" to himself every day.
