Diary of a Country Priest

Diary of a Country Priest (French: Journal d'un curé de campagne) is a 1951 French drama film written and directed by Robert Bresson. The film stars Claude Laydu in his feature film debut. A faithful adaptation of Georges Bernanos' Grand Prix du Roman-winning novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a sickly young Catholic priest who has been assigned a small village in northern France as his first parish. The film illustrates the eroding religious faith in the French countryside (where Bresson grew up) and the clergy's struggles to reach younger believers disillusioned by the inflexibility, and sometimes hypocritical flexibility, of the Church at the time. The film was lauded for Laydu's performance, which has been called one of the greatest in the history of cinema. It won numerous awards, including the Best Cinematography and International awards at the Venice International Film Festival and the Prix Louis Delluc. According to Roger Ebert, Diary of a Country Priest and Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc are sometimes called the two greatest Catholic films.