Jesus of Montreal

Canada 1989 (subtitles)
120 minutes
Directed by Denys Arcand
Leading players - Lothaire Blutheau, Catherine Wilkening & Johanne-Marie Tremblay

Synopsis

'With a tradition of over forty summers, the passion play at St Joseph's Oratario, on the mountain in the centre of Montreal, had become tired and stagnant. In an attempt to attract a new and younger audience, the clergy engage a charismatic "resting" actor, Daniel (Lothaire Bluteau), to inject life into the production. Though originally regarding his assignment as a mere stop gap between real jobs, the project becomes an obsession. Daniel persuades talented friends to act in the play and largely rewrites the script. As the group work on the production they find their lives increasingly echoing those in the gospels. Such a literal interpretation is not what the church establishment had in mind.

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Denys Arcand began his film directing career in the 1960s with the National Film Board Of Canada making documentaries about Canadian life that became increasingly political. In 1972 Arcand said: "The Film Board make thousands of films to say that all goes well in Canada and that the western wheatfields are very beautiful. So I think it is normal that there should now and then be a film which says everything is rotten and that we live in a country that is corrupt from the top to the bottom". However , it was not until the release of 'The Decline of the American Empire' in 1986 that Arcand gained international recognition.

It was during the casting of this film that Jesus of Montreal was inspired. A bearded actor explained that, if necessary, he was willing to shave, but he was presently playing Jesus in the Montreal Passion Play. Arcand became fascinated by the work taken by the actors between assignments.

Some of the actors recruited to his company were engaged in dubbing porno movies into French, and Daniel's reaction to the way a casting director treats the actors at an audition for an advertisement is an obvious parallel to Jesus and the money changers.