Jésus de Montréal (1989)

(On TV, April 2022) It’s Easter, so all TV channels are unfurling their Jesus-themed films – even the iconoclastic Jésus de Montréal, a semi-reverent modern transposition of the Passion of the Christ in 1989 Montréal, with a heavy dose of metafiction, as the titular Jesus is an actor re-creating a bold new take on the Way of the Cross. Helmed by Denys Arcand (a former Catholic and atheist at the time of the film’s production), it’s a mixture of dark comedy, slick filmmaking and religious/philosophical themes that probably couldn’t exist outside French Canada. (A society that was barely a generation and a half past quasi-theocracy La Grande Noirceur by the time the film was released.)  It starts on a quasi-comic tone, as a clergy member contacts a young gifted actor to put together a new live show of Jesus’ last days on church grounds. There’s an entertaining “Let’s get the band together” first act, as members of the ensemble cast are brought together to create the show. But then the film shifts into more serious territory when the show proves too intense for stars and spectators alike – leading to outbursts of Christlike righteous rage from the protagonist, and the clergy shutting down the show. Then it’s off, inevitably, to tragedy, as the stations of the cross are re-created in late-1980s Montréal. It’s a provocative film, but not a disrespectful one – like many Catholic-atheists (counting myself among them), Arcand has a respectful but not deferential attitude toward the church and, more importantly, the teachings it champions: the film works because it’s not a satire, a parody or an angry takedown. Some of the themes get muddled late toward the film; some characters are given short thrift and some points are made as effectively as they could. But for fans of Arcand’s cerebral-but-accessible work, Jésus de Montréal ranks as a decent entry in his filmography – interesting to watch, and not quite as meaningless as it could have been.