Cast:
Lothaire Bluteau (Daniel Coulombe), Catherine Wilkening (Mireille), Johanne-Marie Tremblay (Constance), Rémy Girard (Martin), Robert Lepage (Rene), Gilles Pelletier (Father Leclerc), Roy Dupuis (Marcel Brochu), Yves Jacques (Richard Cardinal), Cédric Noël (Pascal Berger), and Denys Arcand (The Judge) Written and Directed by Denys Arcand.
Review:
Here we are on another Canada Day, 10 years to the day of an offbeat decision by Movie Night (read: me) to review films that touched upon the spirit of Canada on the occasion of the nation's most significant holiday. Although I have not done a film review on the day for each of the past ten years, I find it to be an interesting experience to see just what the folks north of the border have to offer in cinema, no matter what province or language that involves. Enjoy.
"You can't live with Jesus's principles today and expect to come out alive. Something horrible would happen to him, like it did 2,000 years ago." - Denys Arcand.
I am not religious, but I do know there is one key thing to remember when it comes to films: if you are having some sort of fun while seeing it, that is all that matters in the end. Denys Arcand was born in Deschambault in Quebec to a devout Roman Catholic family whose mother was once a Carmelite nun. He studied at the Université de Montréal in history and was interested in filmmaking. While in school in 1962, he collaborated with Denis Héroux and Stéphane Venne on a docufiction film with Alone or with Others, which notably had future Direct Cinema pioneer Michel Brault as cinematographer. Despite this, he did not initially believe he would make a living doing so in Canada, owing to the National Film Board of Canada not really hiring at the time of the 1960s. However, he happened to have luck on his side when he tried applying for a summer job and found the NFB needed work on a series on the history of the country for schools. This included such material such as Cotton Mill, Treadmill, a documentary about the conditions of workers in the textile industry in Quebec that was so controversial that it was delayed from its filming in 1970 for release only in 1976 (it wasn't even kept clean, but the uncut version does exist in boxset form now). At any rate, Réjeanne Padovani (1973), his second feature and first as both writer and director, ended up being screened at the Cannes Film Festival that he called an early thrill. However, the next decade would see him struggle to get films onto the screen the way he wanted, which saw him do one feature, a couple of documentaries, a TV series, and a unique venture with The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (1984) that involved it being connected with a TV miniseries that was released two years after the film. However, it was his next film with the sex comedy-drama The Decline of the American Empire (1986) that made his biggest impact. He used the 1980 Quebec referendum and My Dinner with Andre (1981) as inspiration, which resulted in the then-biggest hit in Quebec history that included a nomination for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a sequel with The Barbarian Invasions in 2003.
Jesus of Montreal (known in French as Jésus de Montréal) had probably the most interesting timing to come out, as it was released one year after The Last Temptation of Christ, a controversial film in its own right involving, well, you know. At the time of filming, Arcand described himself as an atheist, one who left religion and discovered sex and drugs at 15 but also noted that the teachings would stay with him for his life. The basis for the film came with auditions from his previous film, which saw one actor come to read while apologizing for his beard due to being playing Jesus in a "Passion Play". Arcand seems to feel that in the thousands of years since the Biblical times, one really has only learned that the story of the Passion is a "metaphor of an artist and his struggles and temptations". Like in the film, Arcand underwent research within Christ and scholars that found that a great deal of mystery still existed within (as such, the debate in the historical and theological sense about Jesus is reflected within the play, which even features the a noted soliloquy from Hamlet). As such, what we have here is a fascinating satire, because the argument that is presented here comes from what happens when the New Testament really does become a matter of art imitating life. As such, the characters become one with numerous figures, such as with Bluteau's character seemingly becoming Jesus (Girard's character, a parallel to Saint Peter, is playing an actor recruited while being seen doing recording for a pornographic film, for example). With a runtime of 118 minutes (with a primary language of French with small bits of English), it makes a curious film to view in the lens of both spirituality and within humanity. It posits that if there was a man like Jesus here on the Earth now, they would likely find hypocrisy within the ranks of religious teaching and oppressors just as one had found before. Overall, one finds a journey that goes from recruiting apostles (actors) to the ultimate act of a redeemer. Bluteau proves to be an excellent figure to capture the essence of one who may very well have become more than just a child of God, one who thinks that there has to be more to life than just quietly waiting for death, and he exudes an earthy confidence to make it matter more than just being a subdued allegory. Far from blasphemy, he really does make for a spiritual center to cross everything together as a man who die for one's sins, whether that involves artistic integrity or something more. Wilkening and Tremblay make up the two sides of allegory of Mary (one being Magdalene and the other being the "Mother of Jesus"). They arise from the recruitment of Bluteau for actors of all walks of life to be in a revised "Passion Play", and they are each effective here, most significantly with Wilkening and her knowing qualities that are apparent from her first scenes spent finding why doing the play is far more important than being gawked at for a commercial. Girard and Lepage make for entertaining pieces as the other key part of the apostle actors recruited to deal with the teachings beyond just playing bits for relief (the latter is found narrating about the vastness of space and where life will be in millions of years...with a script that is said later to be valid today but possibly change later). Pelletier may be the Judas figure, but all he really is a man trapped between the line of where he wants to rest within religion (in authorities vs. reason), which is more than can be said for Jacques, who is basically thought to be a corporate Devil. As a whole, no matter how much one is into religion, there will be something for everyone within this film in how it establishes just what matters most in a world where hope is thought to be the most irrational and unyielding of emotions that makes life bearable when you search for a path to salvation, and this works well as film of both the theater and theology, so take that for what it is worth.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
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