L'Argent

Bresson’s superb final film and Cannes winner is a Tolstoy adaptation relating how a prank with a forged bank note leads to tragedy.

Based on a short story by Tolstoy, Bresson’s superb swansong – made in his early 80s – charts the unravelling of its young protagonist, Yvon, as he becomes part of a deception that starts with the prankish circulation of a forged 500-franc note and culminates in murder. The director’s austere and uncompromising last word on sin, chance and salvation, the film was widely welcomed as a late masterpiece and won Bresson the award for Best Director at Cannes in 1983.

Ranked joint 169th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll