The 1959 French film directed by Robert Bresson that follows a man drawn into crime as a pickpocket is Pickpocket. The film stars Martin LaSalle as Michel, an unemployed young Parisian who gradually embraces theft despite warnings from his friends, family, and a sympathetic police inspector.
Bresson wrote and directed the film, which runs about 75 minutes and was released in France in December 1959. Its story is influenced by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, especially the idea that an exceptional person might believe ordinary moral rules do not apply to him. However, Pickpocket is not a direct adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel.
The film’s famous theft sequences were developed with help from Henri Kassagi, a real French-Tunisian pickpocket who served as a technical adviser and appeared in the movie. Afterward, his recognizable face and techniques made it difficult for him to continue stealing, so he became a stage magician. Pickpocket is often regarded as one of Bresson’s finest films and influenced filmmakers including Paul Schrader and Christopher Nolan.