09/07/2025
🎬🎬 The Devil, Probably (1977)
The Devil, Probably (Le Diable probablement), directed by acclaimed French filmmaker Robert Bresson, is a somber and contemplative drama released in 1977. Known for his minimalist style and use of non-professional actors, Bresson crafts a bleak portrait of youth, existential despair, and disillusionment in modern society.
The film follows Charles (Antoine Monnier), a disaffected and intelligent young man living in Paris. Charles is deeply troubled by the state of the world—environmental destruction, political corruption, war, and the failures of religion and ideology to provide meaning or hope. Despite having friends, lovers, and intellectual pursuits, Charles feels alienated from everything around him. His life is marked by philosophical detachment and quiet nihilism.
As the narrative unfolds, Charles drifts through relationships and political groups, including radical activists concerned with ecological catastrophe. However, he rejects their efforts as futile gestures in a world already doomed. Neither love nor intellectual rebellion offers him solace or purpose. His apathy deepens as he becomes increasingly convinced that nothing—not faith, politics, or personal connections—can counter humanity’s descent into self-destruction.
The film’s title refers not to a literal devil, but to the metaphorical idea that perhaps the cause of humanity’s ruin is “the devil,” or perhaps, more frighteningly, simply humanity itself—apathetic, self-serving, and indifferent to its own extinction.
The story culminates in tragedy, as Charles arranges for his own death, seeing su***de as the only logical response to