What is there to write about Pickpocket? It is a good film, no doubt. The cinematography is done well, the acting is solid (as far as Bresson's preference goes), and the setting is satisfactory. Yet, I could not help seeing it as nothing more than Dostoevsky adaptation, without a life of its own. As plenty of other critics have shown, the plot of Pickpocket and the plot of Crime and Punishment is extremely similar. Both have young men commiting crimes, trying to justify the crimes, young women that are involved with the main character, a frail mother, a devious dectective, and a suspecting friend. If you had never read Crime and Punishment, I imagine you would quite enjoy this movie. However, Bresson strips it down to its bare bones. The themes of spirituality are completely gone. Raskolnikov's monologues are nowhere to be seen. The horse scene, the drunkards, the gloomy setting of Moscow, and so many of the other iconic events are completely gone. As such, the movie feels like an adaptation of the skeleton of the novel.
Thus, is this a bad film? No, but it could do many things much better. I would have liked to see this film be perhaps double the length. Much more could have been explored and it felt as if there were many themes that lacked their justified amount of attention.