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The Life of Jesus
(La Vie de Jèsus)

Director in Person
Screening on Film
Directed by Bruno Dumont .
With Sébastien Bailleul, Samuel Boidin, Geneviéve Cottreel.
France, 1997, 35mm, color, 96 min.
French with English subtitles.

A shocker at Cannes because of its unromanticized coverage of real sex, Bruno Dumont's provocatively-titled, Cinemascope film is about a group of misdirected friends in the Northern French countryside. It centers on epileptic, chronically unemployed Freddy, his intense couplings with sexy Marie, and 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, non-professional actors to create a naturalistic portrait of rural Flanders for one of the most critically praised French films of recent years.
 

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