Film ReviewsThe Brand New Testament: sticking it to the big guy
Dec 22, 2016 Anchorage Press
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No one thinks to blame God when they drop jam toast and it lands jam-side down; or when they stand at the back of a line that is still while the line next to it goes by faster; or when the phone rings just as they get into the tub. Actually, it seems people never blame God outright for the bad things in life, he only gets credit for the good things and prayers when they are answered. But, what if Joan Osborne's song was true and what if God was "Just a slob like one of us?" The premise of Jaco Van Dormael's film The Brand New Testament (Le Tout Nouveau Testament, original title) is just that-that God is more like a sloppy, flawed and petty tyrant than he is a benevolent, omnipotent and loving supreme being. In other words, God's a jerk.
God, played by Benoît Poelvoorde, sits in a small apartment in a high rise in Brussels. His self-contained existence is shared with his goddess wife (Yolande Moreau) who bears the brunt of the big guy's bad temper. Mr. and Mrs. God's relationship is distilled to the differences between hockey and baseball, oh, and they also have two kids who clearly take after their mom, which is another point of contention between Mr. and Mrs.
Everyone knows about JC, who left home, came to earth and made a name for himself by getting in with a motley dozen and then got himself nailed to a cross. It turns out, in The Brand New Testament, that JC has a kid sister, Ea, played by the smart and talented Pili Groyne. As God sits in his soiled PJs and robe at his computer making up laws that wreak havoc and confusion on human beings, the 10-year-old Ea decides she's had enough of her sadistic father's antics and follows in JC's footsteps. She sticks it to the big guy by releasing key information to human beings while he naps and then goes down the rabbit hole, or laundry shoot, to earth to find her own disciples and even out the score.
Taking JC's advice that twelve disciples are too many, Ea sets out to find six specific mortals. The film goes on from there, providing funny and absurd accounts of Ea's encounters with her disciples. Her presence in their lives is just what they need to find truth and beauty in their lives in unconventional ways. The Brand New Testament delivers scenarios that are steeped in humor and brought to viewers through a stellar cast. Among the stars is Catherine Deneuve, who in her 70s is as versatile as ever and who can play roles very few people have the gumption to pull off. Deneuve has not only been the face of Marianne (representing France's symbol of liberty) and also the face of Chanel, she was also the muse for countless filmmakers, Luis Buñuel, Roman Polanski, François Truffaut, and Jacques Demy to name a few, but to see the great Deneuve portray a woman deeply in love with a gorilla is beautifully surreal and reassuring that indeed, the possibilities are endless.
The Brand New Testament is among Van Dormael's most memorable works, along with his films Toto Le Héro (Toto the Hero, 1991) and Le Huitième Jour (The Eight Day, 1996), as it employs his signature style and aesthetic sensibility, including using a protagonist-narrator voice-over to guide viewers a full decade before derivative films like Amélie became known for this type of stylistic drama-comedy-sprinkled-with-absurdity. The Brand New Testament may be seen as slightly irreverent, but only in a good way, as evidenced by the recognition its director got via a 10-minute standing ovation at Cannes, 2015.
Shows Monday, December 26 5:30 p.m. at Bear Tooth
God, played by Benoît Poelvoorde, sits in a small apartment in a high rise in Brussels. His self-contained existence is shared with his goddess wife (Yolande Moreau) who bears the brunt of the big guy's bad temper. Mr. and Mrs. God's relationship is distilled to the differences between hockey and baseball, oh, and they also have two kids who clearly take after their mom, which is another point of contention between Mr. and Mrs.
Everyone knows about JC, who left home, came to earth and made a name for himself by getting in with a motley dozen and then got himself nailed to a cross. It turns out, in The Brand New Testament, that JC has a kid sister, Ea, played by the smart and talented Pili Groyne. As God sits in his soiled PJs and robe at his computer making up laws that wreak havoc and confusion on human beings, the 10-year-old Ea decides she's had enough of her sadistic father's antics and follows in JC's footsteps. She sticks it to the big guy by releasing key information to human beings while he naps and then goes down the rabbit hole, or laundry shoot, to earth to find her own disciples and even out the score.
Taking JC's advice that twelve disciples are too many, Ea sets out to find six specific mortals. The film goes on from there, providing funny and absurd accounts of Ea's encounters with her disciples. Her presence in their lives is just what they need to find truth and beauty in their lives in unconventional ways. The Brand New Testament delivers scenarios that are steeped in humor and brought to viewers through a stellar cast. Among the stars is Catherine Deneuve, who in her 70s is as versatile as ever and who can play roles very few people have the gumption to pull off. Deneuve has not only been the face of Marianne (representing France's symbol of liberty) and also the face of Chanel, she was also the muse for countless filmmakers, Luis Buñuel, Roman Polanski, François Truffaut, and Jacques Demy to name a few, but to see the great Deneuve portray a woman deeply in love with a gorilla is beautifully surreal and reassuring that indeed, the possibilities are endless.
The Brand New Testament is among Van Dormael's most memorable works, along with his films Toto Le Héro (Toto the Hero, 1991) and Le Huitième Jour (The Eight Day, 1996), as it employs his signature style and aesthetic sensibility, including using a protagonist-narrator voice-over to guide viewers a full decade before derivative films like Amélie became known for this type of stylistic drama-comedy-sprinkled-with-absurdity. The Brand New Testament may be seen as slightly irreverent, but only in a good way, as evidenced by the recognition its director got via a 10-minute standing ovation at Cannes, 2015.
Shows Monday, December 26 5:30 p.m. at Bear Tooth