Probably Bresson's most under-rated film, this is also his lightest,
most reflexive and most self-critical work, close in its wryly ironic
method and style to deliberate parody. An earnest painter spouts a
Bressonian credo of art; a film within a film narrates an absurd
gangster movie in austerely Bressonian fashion. Finally, however,
this is a tender romance, tracing a tentative love affair between young
people made obstinately blind by romantic dreams. From that same
source, both comedy and poignancy arise; and their alienation is
delicately expressed in abstractions of colour. Acted with absolute
precision, it's one of Bresson's most charming and visually beautiful
films.
