Commissioned to rewrite and perform the Passion Play at the St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, a group of actors find their interpretation falls foul of the local catholic hierarchy.
Needing new energies for the annual Easter event at the landmark shrine (and highest point in the city), Father Leclerc (Gilles Pelletier) commissions Daniel (Lothaire Bluteau) to bring together a small group of actors. Surrounding himself with actors with something to contribute, Daniel’s acclaimed version is not what the church wants.
An unexpected thrilling and absorbing contemporary parable that, whilst it loses its way in the final third of the film, questions and reflects on interpretations of the life of a prophet, his teachings and the responses by the authorities. A ‘what if’ satirical narrative by director Denys Arcand is firmly answered by the film’s Dostoyevskian denouement.
Nominated for best foreign language film Oscar in 1990.
Rating: 68%
Director: Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions, The Decline of the American Empire)
Writer: Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions, The Decline of the American Empire)
Main cast: Lothaire Bluteau (Bent, TV’s Vikings), Robert Lepage (The Far Side of the Moon, Testament), Johanne-Marie Tremblay (The Barbarian Invasions, I Killed My Mother)
An Opinion or Two 