Bestowed with the Jury Grand Prix in Berlin, François Ozon’s BY THE GRACE OF GOD is an ardent reportage of the topical and contentious real-life case of pedophiliac Catholic Priest Bernard Preynat (Verley, remarkably telegraphing discombobulation and a semblance of guiltlessness) and gleans a trifurcate narrative retailing the stories of his three now grownup victims, uncharacteristically and methodologically unostentatious, viewers may detect kindred spirit of Tom McCarthy’s, equally if not more, restrained and level-headed SPOTLIGHT (2015), also wrestling stoutheartedly with the tabooed and egregious clerical misconduct.
First we meet Alexandre Guérin (Poupaud), a 40-year-old still practicing Catholic, a successful banker living in the easy street with his wife Marie (Petit) and their 5 children, there is no vested interest in Alexandre’s resolve to save children from Preynat’s hands when he finds out decades later, the latter is still in practice. But in the thrall of his religion, all he wants is to have Preynat defrocked, whose admission is overtly confessionalbut repentance is wanting, only to be dismayed by the Church’s institutionalized compliance of the immoral act, and unabashed procrastination and inaction, which leaves him rush from pillar to post, anyhow, he is the first one to officially file a complaint which instigates the ripple effect.
Next in line is François Debord (Ménochet), now an atheistfamily man, who intrepidly buckles down to not only expose Preynat but also crusades against the corrupted institution and knows how to operate the media-savvy approach that can effectually pressurize the church into admit its own flagrancy.
While both Poupard and Ménochet take the unsavory affairs in their vehement strides, but their characters seem fine in spite of the unspeakable abuse, it is our third protagonist, Emmanuel Thomassin, played by Arlaud with an efficient fragility both physically and emotionally, vividly casts light on the poignant aftermath without sensationalizing it (a traumatic bonding with his girlfriend, intermittent seizures, and a startling crooked member, etc.). Also the disparate attitudes of the three men’s parents persuasively attests the importance of their respective post-trauma adaptations.
A self-possessed triptych sedulously pieces together a scandalous transgression with continuing repercussions through pedestrian daily activities, BY THE GRACE OF GOD (which refers to a thought-provoking faux pas in the film), does not habitually comply to Ozon’s usual stylish conceit, but this switch of method does indicate a cardinal signal that he has eased onto a more protean stage of filmmaking, never predictable, but excitingly fecund.
referential entries: Tom McCarthy’s SPOTLIGHT (2015, 8.3/10); Ozon’s THE NEW GIRLFRIEND (2014, 6.9/10).
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