As a lark, she decides to engage the village's attractive young priest, Léon, in querulous religious discussions. To her surprise, Léon encourages her inqueries, and lends her books to read. Their priest-to-parishioner relationship continues throughout the war. Barny would like to seduce him, but her advances, as well as those of her co-workers, are to no avail.
How I felt about it. One scene in the movie seems odd. German soldiers arrive at the sleepy village, occupied by Italian troops, and the two forces exchange gunfire. This seems unlikely, since Germany and Italy were Axis allies. Regardless, it is foolhardy for Riva to gawk out of the window to watch the battle, instead of lying flat on the floor waiting for it to end.
Léon Morin, Priest humanizes its title character by having him show select emotions, and occasionally expressing displeasure with Catholic Church positions and decisions. But none of the young women in the film remotely succeed, try as they might, in seducing Morin. Though he is certainly fond of spending time with them, as long as they are debating obscure religious topics.
It isn't clear why Léon would rather live out his life as an impoverished priest, subject to the whims of the Catholic Church, instead of taking up the offers of any of his richer or more beautiful parishioners. The answer, of course, is that he is a fictional character.
Emmanuelle Riva was 34 years old when this film was released, a few years older than her character, Barny. This is apparent when compared with her two main co-workers, the temperamental Christine (Irene Tunc, then aged 27), and serene beauty Sabine (Nicole Mirel, then aged 20). The priest, Léon, is played by Jean-Paul Belmondo, then 28.
Riva was probably cast for commercial reasons. She recently had a star turn in the art house success Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959). Today, she is best remembered for Amour, a 2013 movie that made her the oldest nominee (at age 85) for the Best Actress Oscar.
Léon Morin, Priest is an aberration in the filmmaking career of the talented Jean-Pierre Melville, whose grist was crime or spy dramas dominated by their male characters. Although the title character is the priest, Riva has far more screentime. Melville also adapted the screenplay, so his direction was not merely a quickly performed duty to please a studio or producer.
It's not clear why Melville wanted to make the film. Perhaps he admired the source novel, Beatrix Beck's "The Passionate Heart." Perhaps he merely thought it held commercial promise. In any event, the choice paid off.
Léon Morin, Priest picked up a minor trophy at the Venice Film Festival, probably to mollify its French delegation, which was angry at the festival's screening of the Yugoslav movie Thou Shalt Not Kill, which depicted France in an unfavorable manner.
Belmondo's performance in Léon Morin, Priest was nominated for Best Foreign Actor by BAFTA. Belmondo had recently wowed the New Wave scene with his lead performance in Breathless (1960), but his BAFTA nod was probably more for the incorruptible and unflappable character of his priest character, since the role could be played by any young Frenchman comfortable onscreen.
But Melville must have also been pleased with Belmondo's performance,
since he cast the budding star as the lead in his next two films,
Years later, Léon Morin, Priest made Roger Ebert's
"Great Movies" reference. By that time, Melville was long dead, since
the portly man expired from a heart attack in 1973, at age 55.
How others will see it. The film received critical praise in Europe,
but was not an immediate financial success. However, it probably cost little
to make aside from the salaries of Melville and its two esteemed leads.
Today, though, Léon Morin, Priest is well remembered. It benefits
from the belated admiration for Melville's movies, which were often seen as
overlong and derivative during his lifetime. And since Melville was dead, any
controversy regarding his behavior while alive has faded over time.
At imdb.com, the movie has a high 7.5 user rating. The user vote total of 6K
is respectable, given that it is a black-and-white drama with many
conversations and precious little action. Even the skirmish between the
German and Italian occupiers happens offscreen.
The user reviews do point out how long and slow the movie is, and how different
it is from Melville's other films and Belmondo's star-making turn in
Breathless. Nevertheless, the long-winded reviews praise the movie,
especially the lead performances. Of course, the real reason why the film
is as good as it is isn't the acting. It's the script.