I'll admit I'm more of a fan of Jean-Pierre Melville's crime/heist films like The Red Circle, Le Samouri, and Le Doulus than this or Army of Shadows, but Leon Morin, Pretre is still a very well-made and very well-acted drama that could be sorta of described as a war or romance film, but not completely. Its premise I've seen described as being about a widow falling for a young priest during WW2, but there's both more and somehow less to it than that. More in the sense that the film is much more interested in its characters and themes than its story, and less because it doesn't really follow the narrative you'd expect with that premise.
I found this similar to some of Ingmar Bergman's films in terms of the dialogue, and films where much of the dialogue is made up of philosophical conversations about faith, religion, and the purpose of life and all that can make for challenging watches, for me at least. I think it's one reason I didn't really get into this fully, and the same reason I'm not as big of a Bergman fan as many, but that's okay I guess. His films and also Leon Morin, Pretre aren't ones I find riveting, but I appreciate what they're going for.
Maybe part of it is the fact that having characters question religious institutions and the idea of faith itself isn't really radical or new anymore. It's not the most fair criticism, but it might have something to do with how I feel about these older, religious-themed movies.
I found this similar to some of Ingmar Bergman's films in terms of the dialogue, and films where much of the dialogue is made up of philosophical conversations about faith, religion, and the purpose of life and all that can make for challenging watches, for me at least. I think it's one reason I didn't really get into this fully, and the same reason I'm not as big of a Bergman fan as many, but that's okay I guess. His films and also Leon Morin, Pretre aren't ones I find riveting, but I appreciate what they're going for.
Maybe part of it is the fact that having characters question religious institutions and the idea of faith itself isn't really radical or new anymore. It's not the most fair criticism, but it might have something to do with how I feel about these older, religious-themed movies.