Leon Morin Priest/Leon Morin, pretre (1961)

In World War II, the widow Barny sees the Italian soldiers arriving in occupied Saint Bernard while walking to her job. Barny lives with her daughter and works correcting tests and feels a great attraction toward her boss Sabine. When the Germans arrive, Barny sends her half-Jewish daughter to live in a farm in the countryside and finds that Sabine's brother has been arrested and sent to a concentration camp. The atheist Barny decides to baptize her daughter to protect her and chooses priest Leon Morin to discuss with him themes related to religion and Catholicism and Leon lends books to her. Barny converts to the Catholicism and becomes closer to Leon, feeling an unrequited desire for him.

Pendant l'Occupation, une jeune femme, Barny, vit dans une petite ville ou s'est repliee l'entreprise pour laquelle elle travaille. Femme passionnee, marxiste, incroyante, elle entre un jour dans un confessionnal pour y braver un pretre, choisi au hasard. Jeune, beau et intelligent, ce pretre, Leon Morin, accepte le dialogue et sait, lui aussi faire preuve de force morale. La fascination que Barny vient a eprouver est autant pour la foi que pour l'homme. Leon Morin, tout en respectant son interlocutrice, resistera a la passion qu'elle lui porte.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva and Irene Tunc
Production land: France, Italy
Premiere Date: 22 September 1961 France
IMDb - 7.3 (763 votes)