The Life of Jesus
(La vie de Jésus)
Screening on Film
Directed by Bruno Dumont.
With Sèbastien Bailleul, Samuel Boidin, Geneviéve Cottreel.
France, 1998, 35mm, color, 96 min.
French with English subtitles.
With Sèbastien Bailleul, Samuel Boidin, Geneviéve Cottreel.
France, 1998, 35mm, color, 96 min.
French with English subtitles.
A shocker at Cannes because of its unromanticized coverage of real sex, Bruno Dumont’s incendiary-titled, Cinemascope French film is about a group of misdirected friends in the Belgian countryside.It centers on epileptic, chronically unemployed Freddy’s iintense couplings with sexy Marie, complemented by his motorcycle rides with his bored, nothing-else-to-do, pals. One day, an Arab boy appears in the town, and has eyes for Marie. Racism and revenge follow. Dumont used local, nonprofessional actors to create a naturalistic portrait of rural Flanders for this, one of the most critically praised French films in recent years.