TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES

Double Take

Boze Cialo

Jan Komasa
2019 - Poland / France - 1h55
int. -12 ans

Screenings : wednesday 24 - 5:00 pm - Pathé - 2

20-year-old Daniel finds his spiritual vocation in a youth detention centre, but the crime he has committed means he cannot go to the seminary to study for the priesthood. He is sent to work in a sawmill in a small town, where he pretends to be a priest and becomes head of the parish. The arrival of this charismatic young preacher shakes up this conservative community.

The fifth feature of Polish director Jan Komasa,nominated for the Oscars and the Césars for Best Foreign Film, Boze Cialo (Corpus Christi) is based on the true story of a young Polish man who pretended to be a priest for 3 months.Fascinated by the role he celebrated weddings and christenings and proved more efficient in his work than his predecessor. “That's what was interesting, someone who wasn't immersed in the Church and who didn't care about dogma, but that people found to be good at his work”, said Jan Komasa. “The film is an echo of Polish society which is becoming increasingly secular. Under communism we lived what could be called an age of Enlightenment since the Church was the only place where you could allow yourself to be an intellectual. To this extent it played a determining role. But after the fall of communism it lost ground. The consequence of this was a national schism. The country was split in two with people in the East feeling abandoned and those in the West being pro-Europe and turning towards democracy. The place where we shot the film is very conservative and religion governs everyday life. This is very important to understand the film”. Komasa was immediately struck by Bartosz Bielenia: “He is very intelligent, reads a lot and knows a lot. He has an intense spiritual life and is a practising Buddhist. To prepare for the role he read a lot of work on the Catholic religion including encyclicals written by Pope John-Paul II and Pope Francis”

CAST AND CREW

Cast : Bartosz Bielenia, Aleksandra Konieczna, Eliza Rycembel, Tomasz Zietek, Barbara Kurzaj
Screenplay : Mateusz Pacewicz
Cinematography : Piotr Sobocinski Jr.
Sound : Tomasz Wieczorek
Editing : Przemyslaw Chruscielewski
Music : Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine

Production : Aurum Film, Canal+ Polska, WFS Walter Film Studio

French distributor : Bodega