During the German Occupation, a repressed, recently widowed
atheist (Emmanuelle Riva) strikes up a friendship with her attractive, impassioned
local priest (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and finds herself being drawn both to the
popular cleric but also unremittingly to the faith. Jean-Pierre Melville’s Leon Morin, Priest is offbeat,
intellectual fare, expertly filmed in beautiful black and white, and always
moving and involving with ardent performances from Riva and Belmondo.
**** out of ****
