Jean-Pierre Mocky's Un drôle de paroissien | An Odd Parishioner (1963)

Jean-Pierre Mocky, who directed so many films but is often ignored by critics, is a kind of anarchist rebelling against virtually every institution. In Un drôle de paroissien his targets are the church, the aristocracy and the police. Georges Lachaunaye (Bourvil) is a member of an impoverished aristocratic family which needs money to live but of course doesn't want to work for it. He therefore has to think of something drastic in order for the family to survive. And then it comes to him: he'll rob the collection boxes in churches.

He puts a great deal of thought into the matter, at first just dangling sucked toffee on pieces of string, then progressing to a tiny kind of vacuum cleaner he conceals in his coat and hoovers up the money when no one is looking. But it's easy to be spotted in his work so he co-opts his friend Raoul (Jean Poiret) to work with him, eventually hiding in churches overnight so they can saw the boxes to make a louvred top which can be slid open and the money collected.

Unfortunately for thieves in churches, there's a section of the police force called the Brigade d'églises(!) trained to catch people in the act of stealing from collection boxes. The film becomes a cops-and-robbers story, with both sides confusingly adopting ecclesiastical disguises. This is my first Mocky, and I look forward to many more.