The latest film from polarizing provocateur, French director Bruno Dumont (“Twentynine Palms,” “Flanders”), has been picked up for distribution in North America by IFC. The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and we got a chance to see it.
“Hadewijich” focuses on a fundamentalist nun expelled from a convent, and won the FIPRESCI prize at Toronto. The film premieres at the New York Film Festival this weekend, and will be released next year.
In the picture, Dumont examines and tries to understand extreme emotional devotion to God and the subject of martyrdom. The story of a young woman, Celine (Julie Sokolowski), whose love for God worries her superiors at a convent and have them send her back into the world to find herself and understand herself better. She returns to her home in Paris where she meets a young Muslim man, Yassine (Yassine Salihine), whose brother, Nassir (Karl Sarafidis), shares a similar religious devotion to her. He becomes something of a spiritual guide to her that takes her on to an even more extreme path than before.
The filmmaker use of quiet moments is fascinating and one scene in particular, where Celine, Nassir and Yassine pray together in a room is almost absolutely silent. The scene is framed beautifully, as Dumont cuts to Celine alone and then to all three at once. Of course certain thoughts arise from moments like this but Dumont’s film is not political. The story is obviously influenced by world events, the film is truly one about emotion, religion and love. Celine’s love for God and her desire to find him and feel close to him leads her to sacrifice most everything else in her life. But when she goes to the most drastic lengths, it is not God that finds her but humanity, in the most unlikely incarnation.
Remember Criterion has deal with IFC to release about a dozen of their new titles, so every new IFC release should be eyed closely to see if it makes the cut. – Frank Rutledge