Robert Bresson's landmark character study of one man's crisis of faith in THE DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST vaulted him into the front rank of French filmmakers. The film follows a young priest as he deals with various seemingly insurmountable difficulties: the tangled animosities of the people in his parish, his own inability to find solace in prayer, and a growing suspicion that the illness he's experiencing might indeed be fatal. An older priest offers him down-to-earth advice about distancing himself from the personal lives of the villagers, but the young priest feels compelled to help them, even if his devoted efforts could well be hastening his own death.