Angels of Sin

Angels of Sin (original French title: Les anges du péché) was the first feature film directed by Robert Bresson. Made in 1943, nine years after his comedy short Affaires publiques, it was Bresson's only film released during the German occupation of France. Working titles included Bethany, and Bresson's favored title The Exchange, but producers felt these titles weren't sensational enough. This film was made with a cast of professional actors, an aspect it shares with Bresson's next film, Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, which would be his last done that way. Though usually seen as being the most "conventional" of Bresson's features, the religious subject matter and the directness of the film's style is seen by many as auspicious of the director's later work. Bresson collaborated on the film's screenplay with Raymond Leopold Bruckberger, a Dominican priest, and the noted dramatist Jean Giraudoux, who received top billing on the film's posters above the then-unknown Bresson.