When a friendly, successful suburban teacher and father (James Mason, in one of his most striking roles) is prescribed cortisone for a painful, possibly fatal, affliction he grows dangerously addicted to the experimental drug. His transition from loving father to homicidal despot is depicted on a scale more akin to operatic tragedy than melodrama and, on top of the inestimable pleasures of Mason's performance, a narrative that explores society's use of drugs provides an unexpectedly prophetic di find out more...

A new priest arrives in the French country village of Ambricourt to attend to his first parish, but the apathetic and hostile rural congregation reject him immediately. Through his diary entries, the physically sick young man relays a crisis of faith that threatens not only to drive him away from the village, but also from God. With this, his fourth film, Bresson began to implement a stylistic philosophy in his film making, stripping away all inessential elements from his compositions, the dialo find out more...