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Léon Morin, Priest
Léon Morin, Priest
8.3
/10
2,723 Ratings

LÉON MORIN, PRIEST

Léon Morin, prêtre

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
France, Italy, 1961
Drama, Romance, War

Synopsis

The widow Barny lives in Nazi-occupied France, looking after her daughter in a small village. When the Germans arrive, she decides to baptize her and chooses priest Léon Morin to do so; after spending some time with him and converting to Catholicism, she starts feeling an unrequited desire for Léon.

Synopsis

The widow Barny lives in Nazi-occupied France, looking after her daughter in a small village. When the Germans arrive, she decides to baptize her and chooses priest Léon Morin to do so; after spending some time with him and converting to Catholicism, she starts feeling an unrequited desire for Léon.

Our take

The provinces prove to be a ripe setting for emotions seething under their cool surface in Jean-Pierre Melville’s provocative tale of religion—filled with sexual tension and repression. With Emmanuelle Riva, and Jean-Paul Belmondo as a handsome priest during WWII who all the women are besotted with!