By the Grace of God

A stupidly hot Saturday morning was a great time for the Luna Leederville preview screening of Francois Ozon's new film, By the Grace of God. This is a drama set in Lyon, based on real-life, current events surrounding the crimes of a paedophile priest, Bernard Preynat. The catholic church of Lyon and its high-ranking officials, including Cardinal Barbarin, were found to have known about his actions for some time and not acted upon this knowledge.

The film starts with one of the victims, a now 40-something family man, Alexandre, discovering that the priest who abused him was returning to work with kids in the Lyon area. This sets off a chain of emails and calls to the diocese, culminating in a weird, arranged meeting between Preynat, Alexandre and a church psychologist. The frustrating formality of the church culture in these scenes forces Alexandre's hand and he ultimately feels he needs to involve the law, rather than relying on the church to gets things done. Here's where the film takes an interesting turn by essentially removing Alexandre from the story for a huge chunk of time and leaving another victim, Francois to take up the baton. He is instrumental in creating a support group of fellow victims and this part of the story is then followed by a third victim's section. Emmanuel is the most troubled of the three and the scenes of his epilepsy and social interactions make for some awkward viewing.

The title of the film refers to a statement made by Barbarin at a press conference, where he seemed to be relieved that most of the crimes were committed outside the statute of limitations in French law. The film explores the role of the church in covering up the crimes in a similar way to Spotlight, though that film focussed more on the journalists breaking the story in Boston than on victims themselves. The relationships in the film - Alexandre and wife, Marie; Francois and his parents; Emmanuel and his girlfriend - are key. They highlight the real, natural connections made by choice, as opposed to the sickness (Preynat's own words) of the priest's actions.

Ozon had heaps of trouble bringing By the Grace of God to screens. In an interview with the Observer, he says,

“There were two court cases, but each time there has been legal action the judges have found in our favour. Fortunately.”

It appaers all the church's platitudes are just lip service, designed to placate and hinder victims and their families. Alexandre's son's final question to his father is pretty notable - "Do you still believe in god?" Ozon's decision to leave it unanswered is cleverly designed to let the viewer decide.

See also:

Another Ozon film, Swimming Pool (2003) and Tom McCarthy's Spotlight (2015).

SPOILERS IN POD!!!

Listen to "By the Grace of God" on Spreaker.

Terminator: Dark Fate

This latest Terminator film is nominally number 6 in the series, though it appears to be doing a retcon of numbers 3, 4 and 5. And fair enough, as they were, for the most part, shit. Dark Fate picks up 25 years after T2 and is the first film since that one to star Linda Hamilton. She gets top billing here too, but I think the star turn is Mackenzie Davis as augmented arse-kicker, Grace. She plays the Kyle Reese character, sent back to protect a Sarah Connor saviour from being terminated by the machines of Legion (Dark Fate's version of Skynet). That saviour is Dani Ramos, played by little-known Colombian actress, Natalia Reyes.

The interplay between the three female leads is well handled, with mistrust and confusion dominating. At one point, Dani asks why the machines are after her and is told by Sarah that they aren't afraid of her, they're afraid of her womb. I read this as a swipe at OWAMs (Old, white, American men) and their attempts to control abortion, in particular, and women in general. There are a few more hints at the film's leanings - at a border control facility, Grace asks where the prisoners are being held and is told that they're referred to as 'detainees', resulting in some quickly administered chin music. Arnie justifies his weapons hoarding as a necessity for when the human race begins to go berko. Also, he says, this is Texas. Speaking of Arnie, his character here seems an improved riff on the one in Terminator: Genisys, only hated, not loved by Sarah Connor. He also provides the comic relief and it's just about the funniest he's ever been.

The new iteration of the nasty Terminator is the REV-9, played by Gabriel Luna. This little shit has a neat trick of being able to separate its 'outer shell' from its 'frame' and perpetrate mass violence with both constituent parts. Pretty cool wrinkle for these films. Unlike other Terminator films of late, Dark Fate doesn't overload the story with too much guffle. It seems content to be a fast-paced, tightly-edited chase flick in the spirit of the first two films. And here's the crux - the story is nothing new, only the details are tweaked to add value. It's well structured and some of the set pieces are really exciting (the plane scene had me tensing up) but it seems like it was designed for maximum profit. Bring back Hamilton? Check. Arnie provides the cool and the funny? Check. Modernise by gender swapping the Reese character? Check. Make the antagonist EVEN HARDER to beat? Check. Oh, and don't forget to drop in some references to the first two films, or at least tease them. Check.

In saying all this, I have to admit to enjoying the hell out of this one. Nefarious manipulation or not, it worked for me. But as Freddie said, "When the machines take over, it ain't no place for rock and roll."

See also:

Head back to where it all started with James Cameron's The Terminator (1984) and, for more Mackenzie Davis, try the Black Mirror episode, San Junipero (2016), written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Owen Harris.

SPOILERS IN POD!!!

Listen to "Terminator: Dark Fate" on Spreaker.