The 20th-century French director Robert Bresson might be the most spiritual filmmaker in the history of cinema. And with the Diary of a Country Priest, a film he completed in 1951, we find his superb spirituality in a state of crisis. Eight years later, Bresson would make a film, Pickpocket, that described spirituality in a state of perfection. The dour priest in Diary wants to be like the heavenly thieves in Pickpocket—so certain, so committed, so absorbed in the motions of their craft. If the country priest had even an ounce of this kind of dedication, he would save lives. But he can't. All he can do is offer a fascinating subject for a genius that has few matches, Bresson. by Charles Mudede