La Vie de Jésus

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La vie de Jésus
La Vie de Jésus FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed byBruno Dumont
StarringDavid Douche
Release date
  • 1997 (1997)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

La vie de Jésus (English: The Life of Jesus) is the 1997 debut feature film by director Bruno Dumont. It was the winner of the prestigious BFI Sutherland Trophy, the Prix Jean Vigo and European Discovery of the Year at the European Film Awards, as well as the special mention for Camera d’Or at Cannes.[1] Set in the town of Bailleul, the film casts a bleak look at the life of an unemployed teenager with learning difficulties who descends into rape and murder. The choice of title for the film is unexplained.

Plot[]

Freddy is an unemployed epileptic youth, living with his mother who runs a little bar and sleeping when he can with his girlfriend Marie, who works in a supermarket. When not attending hospital he hangs around with four unemployed boys (the sixth member of the gang is in hospital dying of AIDS). The five are members of an all-male marching band that has an all-female majorettes section and, after a rehearsal, they gang rape one of the girls. Her father publicly denounces them as cowardly rapists. Marie, disgusted at Freddy's behaviour, accepts the advances of Kader, from a North African family. The five abduct Kader, and Freddy kicks him to death. The police inspector denounces him as a cowardly racist murderer.

Controversy[]

Using body doubles, Dumont included extreme close-ups of penetration in The Life of Jesus to emphasize the animal nature of the sex act, sometimes taking place outdoors in a field. In order to keep a natural feel and atmosphere, the director deliberately used non-professional actors. Freddy and the other boys' sexual assault on a girl, also made for uncomfortable viewing. Dumont seemed to portray general pack behaviour as predatory, territorial and base, particularly among the younger males - with the elders of the village acting as a communal control but only as a last resort. Dumont's main aim was to maintain a gritty sense of realism, about both the subject matter and questioning the social fabric in a modern context.[2]

Home video release[]

  • La vie de Jésus - Director-approved Masters of Cinema Series edition - Released in the UK 21 July 2008
  • La vie de Jésus - Director-approved special edition in Blu-Ray and DVD formats, released by the Criterion collection in 2019.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ La vie de Jésus - IMDb, retrieved 2019-11-02
  2. ^ Erickson, Steve (29 November 2000). "Mysteries of Love". Minneapolis City Pages. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  3. ^ "La vie de Jésus". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2019-11-02.

External links[]

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