The archbishop,the criminal and the eepair of destinies

Abstract

This article explores the idea of confession as it is analysed in Rowan Williams' recent book on Dostoevsky's novels. Bernanos made a Dostoevskian confessional scene central to The Diary of a Country Priest,realized in Bresson's film of the novel. The link between Dostoevsky and Bresson is then explored, especially the re-creation of Porfiry Petrovich in Crime and Punishment as a Parisian police inspector. This leads to Inspector Vigot in Greene's The Quiet American and to Simenon's Inspector Maigret, who at the beginning of his career had a vision of himself as a 'repairer of destinies' or confessor.