Diary Of A Country Priest (1950)

11 out of 13 people found the following review helpful:

FATHER TED; INTELLECTUAL BY COMPARRISON

SILVERHARP from , 30th June, 2008

From; SILVER HARP Edinburgh Diary of a Country Priest Here’s a nugget of ‘wisdom’ from the curate at the centre of this story; “Blessed is sin if it teaches us shame”. Wow! Obviously a member of the Holy Order of Standing Logic & Sense on its Head. You go for it Father, you’ve just found the perfect excuse for having a great time at everybody else’s expense. And of course you’ll want to hone that shame to perfection … try murder. The frightening thing is the priest depicted here has most of the characteristics typical of those singled-out for canonization (being made into a saint). He intentionally neglects himself; thus pandering to the idea that spirituality can only be achieved at the expense of material considerations such as food, shelter and decent clothing (which doesn’t, by the way, say a lot for recent Popes given their generous girths and luxurious life-styles). He’s also given to putting a religious spin on just about everything. If you or I starved ourselves (and for the benefit of any young people reading, I don’t mean just not going to Mc Donalds for a month) we’d know that having “visions” was a natural consequence of lack of nutrients to the brain and not a visitation from “the other side”. And the fact that such “visions” took a religious form is only because the brain is delving into its nearest available store of imagery – within the brain itself. If you’re obsessed by farm machinery (and who isn’t?) you’d probably have a vision of a combine harvester. There might ought to be a warning issued with this film, to ex-Catholics in particular, that its level of accuracy is suffice to promote nightmares of bad days past (for them at least, if not for current victims of superstitious, and make-it-up-as-you-go-along nonsense that passes for religion in less intellectual communities - TV Baptists, Taliban, Vatican etc.). And finally, as with most people who present as pathetic on the surface but have managed nevertheless to gain a position of power in the community, our friend here proves a lot less deserving of our sympathies than we might at first have imagined. “God will break you”, he rants at the Countess because she dares to reject his idea of God following the death of her only son. Nice! For those happy, intelligent, sensible, sociable, skilful, loving and generous people out there, this film about severely dour people whose lives are the exact opposite will provide all the reassurance necessary that they are “on the right path” and closer to God than any of the self-righteous, pompous, judgemental and self-deluded clerics portrayed here.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

diary of a country priest

EMARBEE from from London, 16th August, 2008

Clearly an important film, sensitively made, but as there were no English subtitles I found it difficult to follow the nuances of the plot.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:

None eventful

catpigeon from , 12th June, 2008

Although this film is a brave attempt to view the inner struggles of a man gorwing alienated from the world, it is slightly thin on content and over states certain points. Although a worthwhile view, especially if you enjoy drama should be a low priority.

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Tricky but worth it

Lignac from , 15th November, 2009

This is not a film to chill out to, it takes a little effort to get the point. The point being angst and lack of confidence. There are some strong images and quite often it is what is not said that has the most power. Nothing about this film is light, Father Ted it is not. My advice is stick at it, it is not easy but it is worth the effort. A glimpse into the hard life of Northern France in the post war era.

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Diary of a Country Priest (1950)

Teebs from , 14th July, 2009

Bloody hard work! Like many Bresson films the film is centred around an outsider in society - here a spiritually and emotionally troubled young priest in his new country parish. The film has no plot as such, and is more a series of episodes of everyday life for the priest, often narrated in voiceover from the diary. The priests torment is intense and there's a wealth of intellectual ramblings about religion, the self and human relations. But yep, bloody hard work.

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Brilliant

A Customer from Bristol, 7th June, 2009

There are no explosions, there is no Oscar-conscious overacting, the story does not rely on plot twists, there are no good-looking movie stars - it is not surprising that a number of people disliked this film. Bresson is certainly not for everyone. But for those of us that like substance, Bresson's work has it in abundance if you approach it actively rather than passively hoping everything will be spelt out for you.

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All is grace

Zamy from , 23rd April, 2009

This slow moving study of a catholic priest's relationship with God and his parishoners may or may not appeal to those interested in the dead hand of christian religion. For me the interest is in watching Bresson's technique which is quite something. Using non actors (he called them models) he draws out a truthful vision through his images, sound and, in this case, sratchings on the pages of a diary. Bresson was a major figure in world cinema and his output is worth revisiting on dvd.

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