JESUS OF MONTREAL Movie Review
Jesus de Montreal
A Montreal church has decided that its annual Passion Play is becoming overly rigid in its staging, and perhaps is becoming less relevant to its parishioners as a result. The church decides to appoint a young, talented actor named Daniel (Lo haire Bluteau) to rework and revamp the Passion Play, but the church gets more than it bargained for. Daniel casts himself as Jesus and puts a number of non-professionals from the fringes of society into pivotal roles; when his innovative staging becomes the subject of the church's wrath—and the media's latest feeding frenzy—Daniel is compelled to live the play offstage as well. taking a lonely but righteous stand for the principles in which he believes. Canadian director Denys Arcand has fashioned an intriguing spiritual parable about truth, hypocrisy, and faith in the modern age, as well as a wry look at the eternal dilemma of artists whose means of expression are influenced by the constraints of their society. The recent furor over a New York theatre's canceling—and then reinstating—the premiere of Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi over advance reports that it contained a gay Jesus-like figure might well spark revived interest in Arcand's thoughtful, absorbing, and relevant film. If it doesn't, it should; forcing the audience to see a two-thousand-year-old story as relevant to their lives was the whole idea in the first place. Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film.
NEXT STOP … The Gospel According to St. Matthew, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Golden Coach
1989 (R) 119m/C FR CA Gilles Pelletier, Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Robert Lepage, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Remy Girard, Marie-Christine Barrault; D: Denys Arcand; W: Denys Arcand; C: Guy Dufaux; M: Jean-Marie Benoit, Francois Dompierre, Yves Laferriere. Cannes Film Festival '89: Special Jury Prize; Genie Awards '90: Best Actor (Girard), Best Director (Arcand), Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Girard); Nominations: Academy Awards '89: Best Foreign-Language Film. VHS, LV ORI, FCT