The subjective and arbitrary nature of censorship becomes apparent when one looks at media from the past or other cultures that faced it. 1977's The Devil Probably (Le Diable probablement) was banned in France for viewers under eighteen years of age. This Robert Bresson film of beautiful cinematography and non-professional actors solemnly discussing environmental disaster, religious schism, and the nature of love in their moody love triangle was somehow seen as more threatening to youth than the many celebrated tragic and/or erotic melodramas of the country. People were evidently concerned the film would inspire young people to commit suicide.
It begins with a newspaper headline informing us the young protagonist, Charles (Antoine Monnier), committed suicide. This is followed by another newspaper that claims he was murdered. From there, the film cuts to a few months earlier and we find Charles among a group of attractive, disaffected youth with a penchant for wearing suede jackets while solemnly watching footage of baby seals being clubbed. I don't think the irony in the choice of wardrobe was intentional but it's worth noting the horrific reality in the environmental disasters Bresson depicts in the film.
With these screenings as a recurrent tangent throughout the film, the characters also gloomily discuss the dynamics of their non-traditional romantic relationships as well as the moral fibre of Catholicism versus Protestantism. Something seems to be going wrong everywhere, something fundamental, the characters muse on the bus. A man in a nearby seat overhears them and, when asked who or what is responsible for all this, he gives the film its title, "The Devil, probably." In this we get a figure of ultimate menace along with the perhaps more menacing observation that the truth is not and cannot be known.
Wikipedia has this quote from Bresson:
What impelled me to make this film is the mess we have made of everything. This mass civilisation in which the individual will soon no longer exist. This demented tampering with things. This immense demolition job in which we shall kill ourselves by trying to go on living. This incredible indifference shown by people, except for some of today’s youth who see things more clearly.
It's worth noting this statement seems as fitting to-day as it may have seemed in 1977 or would likely have seemed in 1877 or many other times in history.
Bresson's preference to cast non-professional actors, following in the Neorealist tradition, sometimes yields performances of uniquely raw emotion. Here, it gives us something cold and remote. The characters are more like subjects of paintings than of a film, rendered as they are often silent and still in the gorgeous lighting, particularly in the restored edition on the Criterion Channel (which, sorry, is leaving the service at the end of the month). The horror of this civilisation's decline is emphasised by the ephemeral beauty of humanity.
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