Bresson's first feature employs professional actors and a more
conventional visual symbolism than his later work. However, it
already displays his characteristic rigour and intensity, as well as
introducing the prison metaphor central to his themes. Like Les Dames
Du Bois De Boulogne, it focuses on the symbiotic relationship between
two women, and though the heroine here seeks spiritual redemption
rather than sexual revenge, the emotional dynamic remains the
obsessive drive to dominate an intransigent rival. The film makes
superb use of Philippe Agostini's crisp monochrome cinematography,
and the last scenes have a shattering intensity. A work of
extraordinary beauty, grace and power.
