Catch This: Movie Night with Léon Morin, Priest

Jean-Paul Belmondo is an icon of cool.

Though, to really appreciate the mid-twentieth century French actor, you have to be familiar with a few French films.

While he has done major films throughout his career, he solidified his status as Michel, the smooth, eager-to-be-loved and sometimes violent con-artist in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film, Breathless.

In Léon Morin, Priest, or The Forgiven Sinner, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, however, Belmondo stars as a priest, serving his small community under Nazi occupation in WWII. While seemingly a film about the struggles of wartime, Leon (Belmondo) is experiencing serious temptation: the women of his town, bereft of men thanks to the war, are turning their romantic interests towards the humble, yet surprisingly cool, priest.

Here's the trailer:

So if you want to be cool (and you do want that right?), and see a film that embodies the French psyche during WWII, check out this film at the Northwest Film Forum now through Thursday.

Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave.