The Suspended Vocation (1978) - full transcript
There is a phrase
ascribed to St Augustin and Stalin:
"In a besieged citadel,
all dissidence is treason".
Thus my counter-argument:
(Chile 1941)
"To survive, institutions
must behave as besieged citadels".
(Political exile)
Pierre Klossowski's
autobiographical novel
(Film Director)
"The Suspended Vocation"
tells a story I knew in Chile:
The dispute of Jesuits
and followers of the Virgin,
against zealots of
Church hierarchy and "Matriarchy".
Disputes are expected
to be between Ancients and Modems.
Not between
co-existing tendencies.
Yet this is the most common.
Disputes form a circular logic
reinforcing the institution
in which the dispute takes place.
The relation between a dispute
and the institution it occurs in
shows the institution's perfection.
Its digestive, chemical aspect.
Yet every analysis of it
instead suggests a device
which functions mechanically.
Like a machine.
When freedom assumes
this form of a pretended dispute
in relation to a dogma
not necessarily formulated,
I am intrigued,
because I see a likeness
in such different sides:
the Church and a political party.
This must be so
in any kind of
institutionalisation.
Entitled "The Suspended Vocation",
a film aiming to promote
the priestly vocation
was begun in February 1962.
(1942).
As dissident elements hijacked it
(As the film was unfinished)
for their ideas,
(after years in a lab,)
the monks began another film:
(it was restarted by professionals)
same title, opposite theses.
(with more money).
Aware of the confusion
(Aware of the difficulties)
provoked by films of the same title,
(of editing the first film,)
the Provincial of E ordered
(the director tried)
only one film.
(filming it all again.)
This film takes everything positive
(This film recreates the first)
of the previous two.
(with the footage of the second).
"In a besieged citadel,
all dissidence is treason".
Indeed,
in Sils-Maria,
when I mention Christ's face
and the sick one's, I...
The sick one?
I see a link between Christ's face
and the image.
Not an equivalence.
Not a pure and simple equivalence
between Nietzsche,
I mean between Christ...
The excessive virility
must be eradicated.
What I call 'excessive virility',
is, I believe,
responsible for our civilisation.
These damned virile values
uproot the classes.
Domination means industry.
Industry means the proletariat.
The proletariat means
destabilisation,
vandalism of the countryside,
families ruined, misery,
revolution.
Whoever wants the mob to revolt
must want relentless oppression.
The excessive virility
unleashed on the world
threatens the Church's
spiritual matriarchy,
as the Dragon hunts
the Lady in Revelation.
Excessive virility
finds in means of production
and in the social unrest it causes,
its own vicious circle.
Social calvary
is its latest invention.
Torture chambers
are the last evil of
the 'virile values'.
It is the relationship
between suspect and traitor.
Between executioner and victim.
The very secret of sodomy.
Father, why do you smile?
I noticed that you smiled
while I spoke. Why, my son?
I follow what you say,
your gestures.
You say you were following
my argument,
so why were you smiling?
Follow me.
Is he asleep?
He tried the other zone,
to Rambouillet.
- Not easy.
- He's experienced.
- The letter.
- He's been interned once.
He ran away.
And paradoxically, it's him that
the Black Party is protecting.
Rambouillet...
- Why take the longest route?
- Why not?
What is the longest route?
Maybe you don't have to
cross their zone.
You can cross the non occupied zone
the Devotion left.
The Devotion did not cede it.
It was invaded by force.
Exactly.
The Devotion maintains
two convents in the zone.
Doubtless.
Over there the inquisition's agents
are everywhere.
It might be better
to go through Rambouillet.
Exactly.
Where it thinks it's dominant, the
Black Party hardly protects itself.
Do you have a pencil?
Look!
Look.
The Black Party is everywhere.
Binding me closely to my rival
simply because
he maybe raped my mistress.
Only because of the rape.
Partly for the brutality of an act
I am incapable of,
attracted only by that.
And with him I would have found
the face of what is
impossible for me.
Also, perhaps especially,
for the betrayal,
which would have attracted me.
So, with the rape of women
I've loved,
perhaps I found a complement
to my tendency to betrayal.
I had lived with her
for several months.
One night,
by certain hints,
I persuaded a new friend
to visit us.
- We were delayed.
- Sorry.
This is Jean-Pierre Vincent.
Carole, my wife.
In this way I felt
betrayed and replaced.
And so felt I had
the curious gift of mediator.
It's nice here.
Very nice.
We're here since before the war.
No, that's not sure.
Any liberalism engenders
disorder, revolt.
Do you think so?
Alcohol was quick to take effect.
Certain anecdotes,
inductive to
the situation I was seeking,
prepared the way.
That temptation to do evil
and the inability to do it...
It was her
who took the initiative.
Their complicit glances
didn't escape me.
Nor
the feeble resistance
he made
to sharing the night
with us.
MOI”:
however,
it seems evident
that in the sacraments,
not only the necessity of sharing,
but of imparting them to others,
replace in me
the need to do evil.
Here it is.
Whoever stole it,
knows I'm not implicated.
Your friend made it into the zone.
He's safe now.
You are the one in danger.
He was intercepted.
When?
We don't know.
Three days we haven't
heard from him.
Did he get to Rambouillet?
We don't know.
I don't know anything.
They didn't get the letter.
So you're out of danger.
Read this.
No.
It's not yours.
But it concerns
someone you know well.
Yes?
I'll tell him.
Goodbye.
I'll call you, Father.
Good.
Now to us.
- Do you recognise the letter?
- Yes.
You've known La Montague,
for long?
I know him, but not intimately.
It would not occur to me
to mention intimacy.
The Devotion's ideas
don't interest me.
I want this internal war,
this civil war, to stop.
Jérôme,
listen to what you're saying.
"Internal war", "civil war".
"Civil"? Forget it.
Give me the letter.
"The Heavenly City we strive for
"exists not as a utopian dream
but in reality,
"Physically.
"Not only near God in masculine form
"as Christ,
"but also in a form
both male and female".
The Devotion's ideas
don't attract me.
It would never occur to me
to mention attraction.
Father, if civil war
drags down the Church,
I see the mark
of the abominable distinction...
Let us forget this.
...between the orders
of the world and grace.
We were just commenting
on your strange interpretation
of the Father Confessor's words.
The virile order?
Yes.
He sees it as the origin
of our civilisation.
And?
He called it excessive virility,
domination.
Domination means industry,
industry means the proletariat.
And with it
revolution and repression.
Thus,
with the resulting social unrest,
virility finds its vicious circle.
Did the Father really say
'vicious circle'?
The vicious circle.
The virile values end in
the link of the executioner
to the victim, the secret of sodomy.
Those are your words!
It's not true.
You felt you were chosen.
Hoping to fight evil from the
church ramparts, a besieged citadel.
But you don't take part
in the attacks,
or wait silently and obediently
for the assault.
Instead, you are seduced
by internal rumours
that agree with your
state of constant revolt.
Diverted from the real fight,
giving yourself up to disputes that
never tear apart the Holy City.
With the intensity
of a restless heart!
Leave.
Traitor.
The Devotion will be grateful.
His silence was precious.
You'll have to change convents
to another zone.
You'll find the superiors
more understanding there.
I'm sure the Superior himself
will be delighted.
My Brother...
Yes, it's all a bit temporary.
So it's not strange that
the number of guests is falling.
In any case, the tacit house-rule
demands constantly
changing their cells
and renewing the furniture.
It keeps the guest brothers busy.
It keeps them away
from ancient disputes.
The rule also
forces them to fix or make
tools and furniture
for convents in other zones.
So the significance of
ancient disputes
is regularly submitted to others.
Finally, the distribution of tasks,
and the desire to perform
the hardest and most painful,
became a tacit rule.
The house accepts it
in its significance
indicating a dual mission:
spiritual and economic.
Father Superior,
I see in the brothers'
total submission
to tacit rules and exhausting tasks
which have economic aims,
a class struggle within the Church.
I know I can trust you.
Among the brothers here, there are,
how could there not be,
members of the Devotion.
Just as there are others
of indefinable origin,
secular, sent by the Inquisition
to re-educate their souls.
And others, like you,
without whom
my mission would be impossible.
Thank you Father Superior.
Father!
What do you want? A scandal?
Absolutely not!
Son of a bitch!
Shame!
The doctors at the Virgin's feet!
St Bernard and St Thomas.
Precisely those who fought the
doctrine of Immaculate Conception!
It's hard to tell
who they really are.
They could even be unbelievers.
- I'm happy.
- How are you?
I'm happy too.
- Been here long?
- A few days, and you?
Just arrived.
Come here.
- Is it hard?
-Yes, it's hard, very hard.
You know,
one does penance here.
They give us 8 hours of work a day,
and we do more:
14, 15...
Will you stay here long?
I don't know. And you?
I don't know.
I can escape when I want.
They'll catch me,
bring me back here.
It's better that way.
Be careful,
they think you're a double agent.
The Virgin's hymn.
It's forbidden.
The tacit rule.
The tacit house-rule
requires that in every commandment
held by good Christians
there is an excess,
a surpassing of perfection.
Sometimes contradictory.
As the surpassing of moderation is.
Of course I speak of 'surpassing'.
Not of 'overflowing'.
This 'surpassing complements
what other convents call
the law of stability:
not being able to leave the convent.
Which here transforms itself into
an obligation
to leave the convent.
Inversion!
What, Jacques?
I didn't say anything, Father.
Inversion!
You think the lack of composition,
of unity,
won't affect the fresco's quality.
People are prejudiced.
Full of preconceived ideas.
Unity of style you say.
But how can unity of style exist
without uniformity of opinion?
And so it is.
Art must show diverse ways
of treating the same mystery.
Lack of composition?
I'd go further.
I would say a total lack
of artistic quality.
Is its loss important?
If it aids a new approach
to the mystery
by hundreds of brothers'
anonymous expression?
In which everyone does his bit?
Retouching details,
suggesting changes.
No unity, no artistic quality, yes!
I would even say
it's good that way.
If I understand, you want us all
to participate in this fresco.
Even if we haven't the means.
You should not be afraid
of overcoming your prejudices.
Of sweeping them away.
It is not the making that matters.
But the embodiment of mystery.
It matters that everyone
brings their own doubts.
Then the collective work
shows its thirst for unity.
That is how the fresco matters.
That is where grace reveals itself.
In the impulse towards a collective
experience of the mystery.
So, for you, grace is no more
than undertaking collective tasks?
I let my tongue run away with me.
Father Superior,
I would not accuse you
of loyalty to your enthusiasm.
Don't be afraid of
your judgement's severity.
Tonight, in the Chapter House,
you'll say what you have to.
Get up Father Superior.
Father!
Get up!
Please.
Get up!
You could be crucial
to the solution of this dispute.
One has to know that the fresco
can't help us at all
in this mission.
How could a contradictory image
of mystery help?
The mystery is obscure.
But its expression must be
clear, concise and well done.
Obtaining a correct expression,
the fresco shows
Christ's message of salvation.
It expresses joy
by its beautiful images,
easy to understand.
The Church must be present
in such a fresco,
shown by the pope and its bishops.
It must be painted by a master
of the art of reproducing nature
on paper and in paint.
What do you think of me, Brother?
I hardly know you.
What should I think of you?
Brother Jérôme,
what do you think of me,
prostrate before you?
Ostentation.
Brother, I humbly ask you
whether the extreme humility
I exhibit
doesn't demand criticism of the
ostentation I so humbly display?
Indulgence in ostentation, Brother.
Brother,
exhibiting such indulgence,
making reverences before you,
before someone like you,
isn't it that
I want to be unmasked?
Search for complicity.
Isn't it true that in searching for
complicity with you
I betray myself to those I fear?
Suspicion.
Ostentation. Indulgence.
Complicity. Suspicion.
The Father insisted
we paint the Doctor of the Church's
real face.
Even if he himself noticed
the irreverence of it.
Two of the Church's
greatest theologians
turning their backs
on the Virgin's triumph.
What will you put here?
First of all, the Pope.
Pius IX,
who promulgated the doctrine.
That image...
Pius IX, doubtless.
That image...
The sister who gave her life
for the dogma's promulgation.
Come here.
Showing the Virgin twice
is a determined
fault of composition,
aside from hieratic aspects.
You see,
the one you wanted to paint,
whom you should paint now
a third time,
is the Lady who cries.
Mélanie and Maximin
would finish it harmoniously.
Get out! Agitator!
"Christ was crucified head-up
and St Peter head-down.
"Shouldn't the law from below
invert the heavenly reign?"
We were just criticising
the Inquisitor
of the Virgin of Chaste Marriage.
What do you think of the fresco?
Terrifying.
Didn't you say it would be perfect
to include the Lady who cries?
For reasons of equilibrium.
Equilibrium? You mean
of the souls of this house?
Aesthetic equilibrium.
You heard, Monsignor.
We will leave you
to speak with the Abbé.
Excellent, my son.
While I was studying,
the seminarist,
who was tested by the fresco
in this holy house,
had a much harder life.
At that time, the fresco
had no symbols to decipher,
resolved by referring
to personal memories
of a secular kind.
It is not good, my son.
It isn't good for you to stay here.
Do you have a protector?
No, your excellency.
Well, my child,
I will adopt you.
And take you to my diocese
tomorrow.
There you will study
far from these disputes.
Before pursuing
the Church's enemies,
fight them within yourself,
so as to better serve the Lord.
Do you believe in one God,
Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth?
I do.
Do you believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ,
only son of God, born of the Father
before time began?
He is God born of God.
Light born of Light.
True God born of the true God.
Born not created.
The same substance as the Father,
by whom everything was made.
For us men,
and for our salvation,
He descended from heaven.
By the Holy Spirit and Mary,
took flesh.
He became man.
Crucified for us by Pontius Pilate,
He suffered His passion,
and was buried.
On the third day He rose again,
according to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven,
to the Father's right hand.
He will come again
to judge the quick and the dead.
And His reign will have no end.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit
that gives life?
With the Father and the Son
He receives
the same adoration, the same glory.
He spoke by the prophets.
Do you believe in the
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church?
Of course.
In one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins?
Long live the Bishop!
In the resurrection of the dead
and life in the world to come?
Yes, yes, yes.
Amen.
Here he is, Mother Angélique.
Intact.
So I see.
Mother Angelique leads
an order of Tertian Sisters.
We have friends in common.
La Montague, for example.
They speak well of you.
I'm very happy.
Ah, those little brothers!
They're so excited.
They won't shift.
Do you think that
we'll enter before midday?
The other zone?
Yes.
Out of the way!
You will stay with the sisters,
then go to a presbytery.
Come in.
I'll be with you in a moment.
Take a seat.
You recognised her.
I know this face.
Of course you do.
It's her.
Yes, that's her.
MB...
Ii...
an.“
da...
Why Malagrida?
Who is Malagrida?
An impostor.
Malagrida has performed important
services for our community.
He painted
this version of the fresco.
Mélanie and Maximin.
The Lady who cries.
Enough that I mention her,
to be considered an inquisitor,
a Black Party agitator.
While they think I'm a double agent.
But you accepted
La Montagne's proposition.
To write a secret report
about the Black Party.
Even you have read
La Montagne's letter.
And of course
my answer written on the back.
Answer...
"I accept - it's in the collective
if not individual interest."
But even in accepting,
you left open other options.
Don't doubt that La Montague
probably circulated that letter.
So that it would come
to your superiors.
Why?
To neutralise you, to discredit
the secret of your report.
Thus obtaining precious information,
considered useless by all,
because apparently not secret.
Who is La Montague?
Who is Malagrida?
Malagrida.
A Spanish painter
well known in avant-garde circles.
He brought the photo
of a Carmelite exhumed during
the violation of the monasteries.
In which he apparently took part.
My friend
during those years of subversion.
A charlatan.
The Devotion
believes a child
converted its founder.
.Even adopting him.
He's an orphan
raised by his aunt.
He's full of kindness.
He ends by commenting on
Christ's message:
"I came to divide man
and his father,
"woman and her mother, etc.
"This cry of elation
"increases the recipients of love
"once the family is denied.
"Christ's image isolated from His
traditional, Judaic context,
"historically debatable as it is,
"has an authentic aspect
even for an orthodox opinion.
"As it is on those words
that the structure of the Church
"and monasteries is built".
Yes, of course, page 60.
"On those words that
the structure of the Church
"and monasteries is built".
Yes.
Of course.
Come quickly!
Just a moment.
Wait!
Not like that!
Gently.
Two children...
It was...
Mélanie, Maximin.
The Lady who cries.
She says that her Son
will punish the world.
What can I do for you?
Haven't you been told
about the statues?
The statues?
I'm very confused.
It isn't easy to explain.
Your young secretary ordered
a number of statues from us.
And the price has not been fixed.
Come here!
Is this my so called
young secretary?
Indeed it is, sir.
This person informs me
you ordered a number of statues.
Yes sir, to decorate my room.
May I point out that
given the size of the order,
I can offer a discount.
How much are they?
Impossible.
This is wrong.
Excuse me, this is a mistake.
Here's the exact amount.
I'm sorry.
I don't understand...
The sum is even more.
More?
It must be another mistake.
Please, follow me.
It's hard to imagine that
that poor child
could undertake all this alone.
With the sole aim of robbery.
Look!
There's a figure missing.
Who is she?
Who is she?
Who is she?
Enough! impostor!
The Lady who cries!
Mélanie!
Maximin!
Is it Her?
So it was true!
They really do exist.
They really do exist.
They really do...
Since his conversion, La Montagne
betrays a particular zeal
for popular devotion.
His creative talent gave cohesion
to the dispersed expressions
of the Marian cult.
Malagrida met La Montagne,
who couldn't resist drawing him
to the Christian truth.
Malagrida doubtless told him
stories of the Spanish Civil War.
La Montagne took Malagrida
to la Salette.
He took as conversion
what was nothing more than
curiosity and humour.
Our rooms face each other.
Those 'priestlets'
are determined we meet.
Come up.
I've got a good cognac.
I saw the fresco.
My ideas about how to represent
the Immaculate Conception
weren't appreciated
by your friends.
Sit down.
I saw you showed
the dying Carmelite
in great detail.
Fantastico!
You recognised her! I knew it.
Of course.
It's a photo of the nun mutilated
during the civil war.
What are you talking about!
It's a fake.
What do you mean?
It's a fake, a reconstruction.
Please, take your place.
You knew the secretary
of Carpocrates?
You know she did
this kind of thing.
Lean that way a bit please.
That's it.
Perfect.
Sister Théophile.
It's her. She's in this convent.
In this convent?
She's a tease. She put me down
in front of Sister Vincent.
Sister Vincent...
Do you know her?
You're to help me
find her love again.
You and Mother Angélique.
Mother Angélique,
what an extraordinary woman!
If it was all up to her,
it would end well.
I need you to help me.
I'm tired of hiding
among these virgins.
Only to catch
the occasional glimpse
of that poor girl...
La Montague, I'm sure you know:
my relation
to his cousin angered him.
And Mother Angélique put you here
so that you would help me.
We must be very careful.
You can't seduce
La Montagne's cousin just like that.
Aren't you meant to be Spanish?
Why the dreams in particular?
Well, the dreams...
the dreams somehow...
guarantee the unity
of one phenomenon.
We're awake when we sleep.
We sleep when we're awake.
And then, sleep takes over
and, by will or by force,
we give up!
Those who believe the Church,
what to say to them?
I strengthen their faith!
I strengthen it.
If they have wavered
in their faith,
although that is
what allows them to bloom
and fight against sleep,
to fight against sleep
and stay awake...
In that case
I leave their faith intact.
But...
If these souls are unbalanced
by their faith,
by their very faith,
I give them their mysteries,
and all that they include.
How do you know
if a vocation is authentic?
Since there is no voice
strong enough up there
for one believing he hears it
to feel obliged to obey?
You believe
the call to be an illusion?
I am not disputing
the reality of the phenomenon.
Nor its expression in a world
built by man
as a result of that phenomenon.
That is not the issue.
I simply attribute
another origin to it.
And I find that origin
in the powers
which inhabit the infinite
and indomitable space
that is the human psyche!
You want to destroy
the Church and its teachings.
Only the Church
can make mankind accept death.
How many unbelievers accept death?
The Church must,
and only she can, teach that
there is no hope beyond the grave.
Today everyone believes what
they say, says what they believe.
But...
The secret is in the institution.
The institution.
The phenomenon of the Church
which eludes men
and leads them to
where they ought to be.
Nothing prevails against her!
What does the diocese think
of your... 'therapeutic? activity?
Everything must happen according
to the Church's intentions.
You mean that the Church,
our holy mother, the Church
is only an image...?
The Church won't say what she is.
But she knows that I know!
Cell 43
The red one, Sister Théophile.
Sister Vincent...
the pink one.
Yes, Mother Angélique.
You won't be lost
in the eyes of Our Lord for this.
Thank you for your confidence,
Reverend Mother.
I am aware of
this mission's insignificance.
You are incorrigible!
Come in.
He's arrived.
Now we've got him!
Sit down.
I'm glad you understood.
Champagne?
The bird is in the cage, my friend!
He's trying to provoke you.
Music!
Please leave.
No! My mission is to stay.
Don't worry about me.
You're the one in danger.
Just pretend everything is normal.
Kiss me.
The girls are shy.
Wait for the champagne's effect.
Drink!
Don't let your feelings show.
In any case they'd be unjust.
Since, how can you know
how this will all end?
Don't be afraid.
I wanted you to come.
Kiss me.
Don't look at him.
Nothing escapes him.
Let us be happy
that everything is done
as our superiors wanted it.
That's the best for us.
And you?
I am happy to serve
where I am called.
You're expected.
- The Abbé Jérôme?
- Yes.
Tell him I am coming.
Say nothing, I am informed.
When I think that your pretence
could have made me take
unfair decisions.
I know all about your intrigues.
We know you, Abbé Jérôme.
You are known.
You are spoken of.
But why are you
following Sister Théophile?
Reverend Mother should do
as she likes with her girls.
If you want to know,
the Reverend Mother accuses you
of helping this impostor
with my niece.
You, a future priest...
What are you waiting for
to bum your habits?
Yes?
Yes, speaking.
Thank you.
I've already been informed.
No.
On the contrary.
He himself.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
I'm sorry.
I got carried away.
But, why exactly were you
following sister Théophile?
I didn't understand
her going out alone.
Even less that she went
to Malagrida's studio.
Does that shock you so much, Abbé?
Don't let this bother you
any more.
By accusing you to La Montague,
the Reverend Mother
gives one lie for another.
I don't understand.
You do understand, my son.
You know this whole intrigue
was arranged by Mother Angélique
and Malagrida.
Isn't that what you came
to tell me?
Yes, Father.
Mother Angelique
telephoned me a moment ago.
She didn't lack arguments.
I can't understand
Mother Angélique's attitude
towards Sister...
You do understand it.
.Sister Théophile
- subjected to certain humiliations.
- Indeed.
She evidently wants to excite
passions in Sister Théophile.
All this
for experimental reasons.
So she can see the interest
Sister Théophile has for you.
Evidently,
she is trying to reverse things
by means of certain...
counter-penitences.
I must speak to you.
I have to take
this picture immediately.
To Malagrida?
I have to go.
Listen.
We have to meet.
Even if only for a moment.
Mother Angélique
told me of your intentions.
She'll tell you of mine.
I have to speak to you.
Not now.
- When?
- Not now.
Malagrida's latest work!
Go home.
Mother Angélique is waiting.
I searched for you.
I need to speak to you.
My office is not safe. Come here.
It isn't true
that I telephoned your superior.
It was made up by him and others...
La Montague, for example.
Jealous of my supposed
influence over you.
Trying anything
to regain your trust.
Your superior has motives
I prefer not to mention.
You shouldn't leave
as you'd planned.
By no means.
It's even more important now
that you stay here.
Have you done
the test of the fresco?
You knew the shameful presence
of certain people here.
The hateful distinction.
You must write it all down.
You must help me
denounce this situation.
You and I, anonymously,
should publish a pamphlet
explaining this fresco.
You explain your ideas
of the poisonous
abundance of faith.
I'll try to expound on my ideas
about the need of marriage
for priests.
Marriage?
We could print it
by hand.
Using emblematic pictures.
Go.
I'll tell you
when and how we can meet. Go.
They are waiting for you.
I am so happy
to see you finally, Abbé.
I was just thinking about
our last meeting.
And I believe
that something remained
unclear between us.
This business of the Abbé,
as you put it,
of the 'euthanasian' Abbé.
Do you maintain that Mr Persienne
played a negative role?
Totally incomprehensible.
I mean, his presence
here in the Church
is a mystery to me.
Even admitting
the existence of two orders,
an atheist Abbé
examining from a scientific stand...
Please, carry on.
The Abbe has been here
for a while.
Don't say you hadn't seen him?
You were saying...
According to the distinction...
Yes, indeed.
According to the distinction...
The damned distinction.
The distinction between
the temporal order and that of grace
makes comprehensible,
and so possible,
the activity of a worldly
Therapeutic Father.
I'm glad to hear you say so.
You understand that
Father Persienne
speaks about a nature
not yet touched by grace.
Whom the Church above all else
teaches how to die.
It teaches that man is destined
by grace to live.
By death of the cross.
Be careful.
Wait another two or three years
and you'll have your tum
to do good.
Be firm in your discipline.
That's all.
Either grace
has uprooted pride
and left humility in such a soul.
Or the soul rejoices
in a pretence Mr Persienne
recognises well,
since he perhaps
has been its victim.
Because the Church has chosen,
she can divide atheist priest
from therapist
in the person of Mr Persienne.
So well that you mix them up,
influenced by your own demon.
Everyone
is descending on you today.
I have a message for you.
There is a project I'm sure
will interest you.
The community no longer
hides its interest
in the report
you are writing about us.
A report, I believe,
for La Montague.
We consider the report
to be necessary.
And we would like to help you
finish it.
I'm afraid I don't know you.
But the community knows you.
It appreciates you.
I don't want to get involved
with the Black Party.
The community turns a blind eye
to that legend.
It only wants to help clarify
what should be clarified.
Come.
There is a project
of writing a monograph.
In it certain opinions
will be discussed
concerning the two orders
and the Immaculate...
Who told you about this monograph?
Certain propositions
were made to us.
The community
is pleased about this.
Happy that differences
are discussed within the Church.
That monograph does not exist.
Come with me.
We might find
we have interests in common.
They represent the Black Party.
I have nothing to do here.
Be patient.
I was just saying,
as far as I'm concerned,
the person who contacted me
for this ecumenical task
was Mother Angélique.
It is rather surprising
that we were all contacted
by the same person.
Here's the Devotion's
representative.
Mass for Mother Angélique
tomorrow at 7
It's dreadful.
And this mass?
What? You didn't know anything?
Not here. Come.
Our superiors have
secularised our community.
Take up God's protection.
So that on a bad day you can resist
and fight to the bitter end.
Hold firm.
With Truth as your belt.
Dressed
in the breast-plate of Justice.
Feet clad in ardour
for the Evangelist of Peace.
Always wearing
the shield of Faith,
thanks to which you can extinguish
the flames of Evil.
Take the helmet of Salvation
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
Can it really be him?
He who will pronounce
the words of the consecration?
He who will hold the Body of Christ
and place the essence of the Lord
on the tongue?
Don Malagrida,
Inquisitor of the faith...
Our battle is not against
flesh and blood.
But against
the spiritual presence of evil
in holy places.
Usurper of Christ!
You'll never get me!
I am leaving Rome. You have failed.
I cannot hold you back.
Go to God by the path
that seems right.
You don't know yourself
as one should know.
And since you need to know yourself,
you will return.
Subtitles by Miriam Heard
ascribed to St Augustin and Stalin:
"In a besieged citadel,
all dissidence is treason".
Thus my counter-argument:
(Chile 1941)
"To survive, institutions
must behave as besieged citadels".
(Political exile)
Pierre Klossowski's
autobiographical novel
(Film Director)
"The Suspended Vocation"
tells a story I knew in Chile:
The dispute of Jesuits
and followers of the Virgin,
against zealots of
Church hierarchy and "Matriarchy".
Disputes are expected
to be between Ancients and Modems.
Not between
co-existing tendencies.
Yet this is the most common.
Disputes form a circular logic
reinforcing the institution
in which the dispute takes place.
The relation between a dispute
and the institution it occurs in
shows the institution's perfection.
Its digestive, chemical aspect.
Yet every analysis of it
instead suggests a device
which functions mechanically.
Like a machine.
When freedom assumes
this form of a pretended dispute
in relation to a dogma
not necessarily formulated,
I am intrigued,
because I see a likeness
in such different sides:
the Church and a political party.
This must be so
in any kind of
institutionalisation.
Entitled "The Suspended Vocation",
a film aiming to promote
the priestly vocation
was begun in February 1962.
(1942).
As dissident elements hijacked it
(As the film was unfinished)
for their ideas,
(after years in a lab,)
the monks began another film:
(it was restarted by professionals)
same title, opposite theses.
(with more money).
Aware of the confusion
(Aware of the difficulties)
provoked by films of the same title,
(of editing the first film,)
the Provincial of E ordered
(the director tried)
only one film.
(filming it all again.)
This film takes everything positive
(This film recreates the first)
of the previous two.
(with the footage of the second).
"In a besieged citadel,
all dissidence is treason".
Indeed,
in Sils-Maria,
when I mention Christ's face
and the sick one's, I...
The sick one?
I see a link between Christ's face
and the image.
Not an equivalence.
Not a pure and simple equivalence
between Nietzsche,
I mean between Christ...
The excessive virility
must be eradicated.
What I call 'excessive virility',
is, I believe,
responsible for our civilisation.
These damned virile values
uproot the classes.
Domination means industry.
Industry means the proletariat.
The proletariat means
destabilisation,
vandalism of the countryside,
families ruined, misery,
revolution.
Whoever wants the mob to revolt
must want relentless oppression.
The excessive virility
unleashed on the world
threatens the Church's
spiritual matriarchy,
as the Dragon hunts
the Lady in Revelation.
Excessive virility
finds in means of production
and in the social unrest it causes,
its own vicious circle.
Social calvary
is its latest invention.
Torture chambers
are the last evil of
the 'virile values'.
It is the relationship
between suspect and traitor.
Between executioner and victim.
The very secret of sodomy.
Father, why do you smile?
I noticed that you smiled
while I spoke. Why, my son?
I follow what you say,
your gestures.
You say you were following
my argument,
so why were you smiling?
Follow me.
Is he asleep?
He tried the other zone,
to Rambouillet.
- Not easy.
- He's experienced.
- The letter.
- He's been interned once.
He ran away.
And paradoxically, it's him that
the Black Party is protecting.
Rambouillet...
- Why take the longest route?
- Why not?
What is the longest route?
Maybe you don't have to
cross their zone.
You can cross the non occupied zone
the Devotion left.
The Devotion did not cede it.
It was invaded by force.
Exactly.
The Devotion maintains
two convents in the zone.
Doubtless.
Over there the inquisition's agents
are everywhere.
It might be better
to go through Rambouillet.
Exactly.
Where it thinks it's dominant, the
Black Party hardly protects itself.
Do you have a pencil?
Look!
Look.
The Black Party is everywhere.
Binding me closely to my rival
simply because
he maybe raped my mistress.
Only because of the rape.
Partly for the brutality of an act
I am incapable of,
attracted only by that.
And with him I would have found
the face of what is
impossible for me.
Also, perhaps especially,
for the betrayal,
which would have attracted me.
So, with the rape of women
I've loved,
perhaps I found a complement
to my tendency to betrayal.
I had lived with her
for several months.
One night,
by certain hints,
I persuaded a new friend
to visit us.
- We were delayed.
- Sorry.
This is Jean-Pierre Vincent.
Carole, my wife.
In this way I felt
betrayed and replaced.
And so felt I had
the curious gift of mediator.
It's nice here.
Very nice.
We're here since before the war.
No, that's not sure.
Any liberalism engenders
disorder, revolt.
Do you think so?
Alcohol was quick to take effect.
Certain anecdotes,
inductive to
the situation I was seeking,
prepared the way.
That temptation to do evil
and the inability to do it...
It was her
who took the initiative.
Their complicit glances
didn't escape me.
Nor
the feeble resistance
he made
to sharing the night
with us.
MOI”:
however,
it seems evident
that in the sacraments,
not only the necessity of sharing,
but of imparting them to others,
replace in me
the need to do evil.
Here it is.
Whoever stole it,
knows I'm not implicated.
Your friend made it into the zone.
He's safe now.
You are the one in danger.
He was intercepted.
When?
We don't know.
Three days we haven't
heard from him.
Did he get to Rambouillet?
We don't know.
I don't know anything.
They didn't get the letter.
So you're out of danger.
Read this.
No.
It's not yours.
But it concerns
someone you know well.
Yes?
I'll tell him.
Goodbye.
I'll call you, Father.
Good.
Now to us.
- Do you recognise the letter?
- Yes.
You've known La Montague,
for long?
I know him, but not intimately.
It would not occur to me
to mention intimacy.
The Devotion's ideas
don't interest me.
I want this internal war,
this civil war, to stop.
Jérôme,
listen to what you're saying.
"Internal war", "civil war".
"Civil"? Forget it.
Give me the letter.
"The Heavenly City we strive for
"exists not as a utopian dream
but in reality,
"Physically.
"Not only near God in masculine form
"as Christ,
"but also in a form
both male and female".
The Devotion's ideas
don't attract me.
It would never occur to me
to mention attraction.
Father, if civil war
drags down the Church,
I see the mark
of the abominable distinction...
Let us forget this.
...between the orders
of the world and grace.
We were just commenting
on your strange interpretation
of the Father Confessor's words.
The virile order?
Yes.
He sees it as the origin
of our civilisation.
And?
He called it excessive virility,
domination.
Domination means industry,
industry means the proletariat.
And with it
revolution and repression.
Thus,
with the resulting social unrest,
virility finds its vicious circle.
Did the Father really say
'vicious circle'?
The vicious circle.
The virile values end in
the link of the executioner
to the victim, the secret of sodomy.
Those are your words!
It's not true.
You felt you were chosen.
Hoping to fight evil from the
church ramparts, a besieged citadel.
But you don't take part
in the attacks,
or wait silently and obediently
for the assault.
Instead, you are seduced
by internal rumours
that agree with your
state of constant revolt.
Diverted from the real fight,
giving yourself up to disputes that
never tear apart the Holy City.
With the intensity
of a restless heart!
Leave.
Traitor.
The Devotion will be grateful.
His silence was precious.
You'll have to change convents
to another zone.
You'll find the superiors
more understanding there.
I'm sure the Superior himself
will be delighted.
My Brother...
Yes, it's all a bit temporary.
So it's not strange that
the number of guests is falling.
In any case, the tacit house-rule
demands constantly
changing their cells
and renewing the furniture.
It keeps the guest brothers busy.
It keeps them away
from ancient disputes.
The rule also
forces them to fix or make
tools and furniture
for convents in other zones.
So the significance of
ancient disputes
is regularly submitted to others.
Finally, the distribution of tasks,
and the desire to perform
the hardest and most painful,
became a tacit rule.
The house accepts it
in its significance
indicating a dual mission:
spiritual and economic.
Father Superior,
I see in the brothers'
total submission
to tacit rules and exhausting tasks
which have economic aims,
a class struggle within the Church.
I know I can trust you.
Among the brothers here, there are,
how could there not be,
members of the Devotion.
Just as there are others
of indefinable origin,
secular, sent by the Inquisition
to re-educate their souls.
And others, like you,
without whom
my mission would be impossible.
Thank you Father Superior.
Father!
What do you want? A scandal?
Absolutely not!
Son of a bitch!
Shame!
The doctors at the Virgin's feet!
St Bernard and St Thomas.
Precisely those who fought the
doctrine of Immaculate Conception!
It's hard to tell
who they really are.
They could even be unbelievers.
- I'm happy.
- How are you?
I'm happy too.
- Been here long?
- A few days, and you?
Just arrived.
Come here.
- Is it hard?
-Yes, it's hard, very hard.
You know,
one does penance here.
They give us 8 hours of work a day,
and we do more:
14, 15...
Will you stay here long?
I don't know. And you?
I don't know.
I can escape when I want.
They'll catch me,
bring me back here.
It's better that way.
Be careful,
they think you're a double agent.
The Virgin's hymn.
It's forbidden.
The tacit rule.
The tacit house-rule
requires that in every commandment
held by good Christians
there is an excess,
a surpassing of perfection.
Sometimes contradictory.
As the surpassing of moderation is.
Of course I speak of 'surpassing'.
Not of 'overflowing'.
This 'surpassing complements
what other convents call
the law of stability:
not being able to leave the convent.
Which here transforms itself into
an obligation
to leave the convent.
Inversion!
What, Jacques?
I didn't say anything, Father.
Inversion!
You think the lack of composition,
of unity,
won't affect the fresco's quality.
People are prejudiced.
Full of preconceived ideas.
Unity of style you say.
But how can unity of style exist
without uniformity of opinion?
And so it is.
Art must show diverse ways
of treating the same mystery.
Lack of composition?
I'd go further.
I would say a total lack
of artistic quality.
Is its loss important?
If it aids a new approach
to the mystery
by hundreds of brothers'
anonymous expression?
In which everyone does his bit?
Retouching details,
suggesting changes.
No unity, no artistic quality, yes!
I would even say
it's good that way.
If I understand, you want us all
to participate in this fresco.
Even if we haven't the means.
You should not be afraid
of overcoming your prejudices.
Of sweeping them away.
It is not the making that matters.
But the embodiment of mystery.
It matters that everyone
brings their own doubts.
Then the collective work
shows its thirst for unity.
That is how the fresco matters.
That is where grace reveals itself.
In the impulse towards a collective
experience of the mystery.
So, for you, grace is no more
than undertaking collective tasks?
I let my tongue run away with me.
Father Superior,
I would not accuse you
of loyalty to your enthusiasm.
Don't be afraid of
your judgement's severity.
Tonight, in the Chapter House,
you'll say what you have to.
Get up Father Superior.
Father!
Get up!
Please.
Get up!
You could be crucial
to the solution of this dispute.
One has to know that the fresco
can't help us at all
in this mission.
How could a contradictory image
of mystery help?
The mystery is obscure.
But its expression must be
clear, concise and well done.
Obtaining a correct expression,
the fresco shows
Christ's message of salvation.
It expresses joy
by its beautiful images,
easy to understand.
The Church must be present
in such a fresco,
shown by the pope and its bishops.
It must be painted by a master
of the art of reproducing nature
on paper and in paint.
What do you think of me, Brother?
I hardly know you.
What should I think of you?
Brother Jérôme,
what do you think of me,
prostrate before you?
Ostentation.
Brother, I humbly ask you
whether the extreme humility
I exhibit
doesn't demand criticism of the
ostentation I so humbly display?
Indulgence in ostentation, Brother.
Brother,
exhibiting such indulgence,
making reverences before you,
before someone like you,
isn't it that
I want to be unmasked?
Search for complicity.
Isn't it true that in searching for
complicity with you
I betray myself to those I fear?
Suspicion.
Ostentation. Indulgence.
Complicity. Suspicion.
The Father insisted
we paint the Doctor of the Church's
real face.
Even if he himself noticed
the irreverence of it.
Two of the Church's
greatest theologians
turning their backs
on the Virgin's triumph.
What will you put here?
First of all, the Pope.
Pius IX,
who promulgated the doctrine.
That image...
Pius IX, doubtless.
That image...
The sister who gave her life
for the dogma's promulgation.
Come here.
Showing the Virgin twice
is a determined
fault of composition,
aside from hieratic aspects.
You see,
the one you wanted to paint,
whom you should paint now
a third time,
is the Lady who cries.
Mélanie and Maximin
would finish it harmoniously.
Get out! Agitator!
"Christ was crucified head-up
and St Peter head-down.
"Shouldn't the law from below
invert the heavenly reign?"
We were just criticising
the Inquisitor
of the Virgin of Chaste Marriage.
What do you think of the fresco?
Terrifying.
Didn't you say it would be perfect
to include the Lady who cries?
For reasons of equilibrium.
Equilibrium? You mean
of the souls of this house?
Aesthetic equilibrium.
You heard, Monsignor.
We will leave you
to speak with the Abbé.
Excellent, my son.
While I was studying,
the seminarist,
who was tested by the fresco
in this holy house,
had a much harder life.
At that time, the fresco
had no symbols to decipher,
resolved by referring
to personal memories
of a secular kind.
It is not good, my son.
It isn't good for you to stay here.
Do you have a protector?
No, your excellency.
Well, my child,
I will adopt you.
And take you to my diocese
tomorrow.
There you will study
far from these disputes.
Before pursuing
the Church's enemies,
fight them within yourself,
so as to better serve the Lord.
Do you believe in one God,
Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth?
I do.
Do you believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ,
only son of God, born of the Father
before time began?
He is God born of God.
Light born of Light.
True God born of the true God.
Born not created.
The same substance as the Father,
by whom everything was made.
For us men,
and for our salvation,
He descended from heaven.
By the Holy Spirit and Mary,
took flesh.
He became man.
Crucified for us by Pontius Pilate,
He suffered His passion,
and was buried.
On the third day He rose again,
according to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven,
to the Father's right hand.
He will come again
to judge the quick and the dead.
And His reign will have no end.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit
that gives life?
With the Father and the Son
He receives
the same adoration, the same glory.
He spoke by the prophets.
Do you believe in the
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church?
Of course.
In one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins?
Long live the Bishop!
In the resurrection of the dead
and life in the world to come?
Yes, yes, yes.
Amen.
Here he is, Mother Angélique.
Intact.
So I see.
Mother Angelique leads
an order of Tertian Sisters.
We have friends in common.
La Montague, for example.
They speak well of you.
I'm very happy.
Ah, those little brothers!
They're so excited.
They won't shift.
Do you think that
we'll enter before midday?
The other zone?
Yes.
Out of the way!
You will stay with the sisters,
then go to a presbytery.
Come in.
I'll be with you in a moment.
Take a seat.
You recognised her.
I know this face.
Of course you do.
It's her.
Yes, that's her.
MB...
Ii...
an.“
da...
Why Malagrida?
Who is Malagrida?
An impostor.
Malagrida has performed important
services for our community.
He painted
this version of the fresco.
Mélanie and Maximin.
The Lady who cries.
Enough that I mention her,
to be considered an inquisitor,
a Black Party agitator.
While they think I'm a double agent.
But you accepted
La Montagne's proposition.
To write a secret report
about the Black Party.
Even you have read
La Montagne's letter.
And of course
my answer written on the back.
Answer...
"I accept - it's in the collective
if not individual interest."
But even in accepting,
you left open other options.
Don't doubt that La Montague
probably circulated that letter.
So that it would come
to your superiors.
Why?
To neutralise you, to discredit
the secret of your report.
Thus obtaining precious information,
considered useless by all,
because apparently not secret.
Who is La Montague?
Who is Malagrida?
Malagrida.
A Spanish painter
well known in avant-garde circles.
He brought the photo
of a Carmelite exhumed during
the violation of the monasteries.
In which he apparently took part.
My friend
during those years of subversion.
A charlatan.
The Devotion
believes a child
converted its founder.
.Even adopting him.
He's an orphan
raised by his aunt.
He's full of kindness.
He ends by commenting on
Christ's message:
"I came to divide man
and his father,
"woman and her mother, etc.
"This cry of elation
"increases the recipients of love
"once the family is denied.
"Christ's image isolated from His
traditional, Judaic context,
"historically debatable as it is,
"has an authentic aspect
even for an orthodox opinion.
"As it is on those words
that the structure of the Church
"and monasteries is built".
Yes, of course, page 60.
"On those words that
the structure of the Church
"and monasteries is built".
Yes.
Of course.
Come quickly!
Just a moment.
Wait!
Not like that!
Gently.
Two children...
It was...
Mélanie, Maximin.
The Lady who cries.
She says that her Son
will punish the world.
What can I do for you?
Haven't you been told
about the statues?
The statues?
I'm very confused.
It isn't easy to explain.
Your young secretary ordered
a number of statues from us.
And the price has not been fixed.
Come here!
Is this my so called
young secretary?
Indeed it is, sir.
This person informs me
you ordered a number of statues.
Yes sir, to decorate my room.
May I point out that
given the size of the order,
I can offer a discount.
How much are they?
Impossible.
This is wrong.
Excuse me, this is a mistake.
Here's the exact amount.
I'm sorry.
I don't understand...
The sum is even more.
More?
It must be another mistake.
Please, follow me.
It's hard to imagine that
that poor child
could undertake all this alone.
With the sole aim of robbery.
Look!
There's a figure missing.
Who is she?
Who is she?
Who is she?
Enough! impostor!
The Lady who cries!
Mélanie!
Maximin!
Is it Her?
So it was true!
They really do exist.
They really do exist.
They really do...
Since his conversion, La Montagne
betrays a particular zeal
for popular devotion.
His creative talent gave cohesion
to the dispersed expressions
of the Marian cult.
Malagrida met La Montagne,
who couldn't resist drawing him
to the Christian truth.
Malagrida doubtless told him
stories of the Spanish Civil War.
La Montagne took Malagrida
to la Salette.
He took as conversion
what was nothing more than
curiosity and humour.
Our rooms face each other.
Those 'priestlets'
are determined we meet.
Come up.
I've got a good cognac.
I saw the fresco.
My ideas about how to represent
the Immaculate Conception
weren't appreciated
by your friends.
Sit down.
I saw you showed
the dying Carmelite
in great detail.
Fantastico!
You recognised her! I knew it.
Of course.
It's a photo of the nun mutilated
during the civil war.
What are you talking about!
It's a fake.
What do you mean?
It's a fake, a reconstruction.
Please, take your place.
You knew the secretary
of Carpocrates?
You know she did
this kind of thing.
Lean that way a bit please.
That's it.
Perfect.
Sister Théophile.
It's her. She's in this convent.
In this convent?
She's a tease. She put me down
in front of Sister Vincent.
Sister Vincent...
Do you know her?
You're to help me
find her love again.
You and Mother Angélique.
Mother Angélique,
what an extraordinary woman!
If it was all up to her,
it would end well.
I need you to help me.
I'm tired of hiding
among these virgins.
Only to catch
the occasional glimpse
of that poor girl...
La Montague, I'm sure you know:
my relation
to his cousin angered him.
And Mother Angélique put you here
so that you would help me.
We must be very careful.
You can't seduce
La Montagne's cousin just like that.
Aren't you meant to be Spanish?
Why the dreams in particular?
Well, the dreams...
the dreams somehow...
guarantee the unity
of one phenomenon.
We're awake when we sleep.
We sleep when we're awake.
And then, sleep takes over
and, by will or by force,
we give up!
Those who believe the Church,
what to say to them?
I strengthen their faith!
I strengthen it.
If they have wavered
in their faith,
although that is
what allows them to bloom
and fight against sleep,
to fight against sleep
and stay awake...
In that case
I leave their faith intact.
But...
If these souls are unbalanced
by their faith,
by their very faith,
I give them their mysteries,
and all that they include.
How do you know
if a vocation is authentic?
Since there is no voice
strong enough up there
for one believing he hears it
to feel obliged to obey?
You believe
the call to be an illusion?
I am not disputing
the reality of the phenomenon.
Nor its expression in a world
built by man
as a result of that phenomenon.
That is not the issue.
I simply attribute
another origin to it.
And I find that origin
in the powers
which inhabit the infinite
and indomitable space
that is the human psyche!
You want to destroy
the Church and its teachings.
Only the Church
can make mankind accept death.
How many unbelievers accept death?
The Church must,
and only she can, teach that
there is no hope beyond the grave.
Today everyone believes what
they say, says what they believe.
But...
The secret is in the institution.
The institution.
The phenomenon of the Church
which eludes men
and leads them to
where they ought to be.
Nothing prevails against her!
What does the diocese think
of your... 'therapeutic? activity?
Everything must happen according
to the Church's intentions.
You mean that the Church,
our holy mother, the Church
is only an image...?
The Church won't say what she is.
But she knows that I know!
Cell 43
The red one, Sister Théophile.
Sister Vincent...
the pink one.
Yes, Mother Angélique.
You won't be lost
in the eyes of Our Lord for this.
Thank you for your confidence,
Reverend Mother.
I am aware of
this mission's insignificance.
You are incorrigible!
Come in.
He's arrived.
Now we've got him!
Sit down.
I'm glad you understood.
Champagne?
The bird is in the cage, my friend!
He's trying to provoke you.
Music!
Please leave.
No! My mission is to stay.
Don't worry about me.
You're the one in danger.
Just pretend everything is normal.
Kiss me.
The girls are shy.
Wait for the champagne's effect.
Drink!
Don't let your feelings show.
In any case they'd be unjust.
Since, how can you know
how this will all end?
Don't be afraid.
I wanted you to come.
Kiss me.
Don't look at him.
Nothing escapes him.
Let us be happy
that everything is done
as our superiors wanted it.
That's the best for us.
And you?
I am happy to serve
where I am called.
You're expected.
- The Abbé Jérôme?
- Yes.
Tell him I am coming.
Say nothing, I am informed.
When I think that your pretence
could have made me take
unfair decisions.
I know all about your intrigues.
We know you, Abbé Jérôme.
You are known.
You are spoken of.
But why are you
following Sister Théophile?
Reverend Mother should do
as she likes with her girls.
If you want to know,
the Reverend Mother accuses you
of helping this impostor
with my niece.
You, a future priest...
What are you waiting for
to bum your habits?
Yes?
Yes, speaking.
Thank you.
I've already been informed.
No.
On the contrary.
He himself.
Thank you.
Excuse me.
I'm sorry.
I got carried away.
But, why exactly were you
following sister Théophile?
I didn't understand
her going out alone.
Even less that she went
to Malagrida's studio.
Does that shock you so much, Abbé?
Don't let this bother you
any more.
By accusing you to La Montague,
the Reverend Mother
gives one lie for another.
I don't understand.
You do understand, my son.
You know this whole intrigue
was arranged by Mother Angélique
and Malagrida.
Isn't that what you came
to tell me?
Yes, Father.
Mother Angelique
telephoned me a moment ago.
She didn't lack arguments.
I can't understand
Mother Angélique's attitude
towards Sister...
You do understand it.
.Sister Théophile
- subjected to certain humiliations.
- Indeed.
She evidently wants to excite
passions in Sister Théophile.
All this
for experimental reasons.
So she can see the interest
Sister Théophile has for you.
Evidently,
she is trying to reverse things
by means of certain...
counter-penitences.
I must speak to you.
I have to take
this picture immediately.
To Malagrida?
I have to go.
Listen.
We have to meet.
Even if only for a moment.
Mother Angélique
told me of your intentions.
She'll tell you of mine.
I have to speak to you.
Not now.
- When?
- Not now.
Malagrida's latest work!
Go home.
Mother Angélique is waiting.
I searched for you.
I need to speak to you.
My office is not safe. Come here.
It isn't true
that I telephoned your superior.
It was made up by him and others...
La Montague, for example.
Jealous of my supposed
influence over you.
Trying anything
to regain your trust.
Your superior has motives
I prefer not to mention.
You shouldn't leave
as you'd planned.
By no means.
It's even more important now
that you stay here.
Have you done
the test of the fresco?
You knew the shameful presence
of certain people here.
The hateful distinction.
You must write it all down.
You must help me
denounce this situation.
You and I, anonymously,
should publish a pamphlet
explaining this fresco.
You explain your ideas
of the poisonous
abundance of faith.
I'll try to expound on my ideas
about the need of marriage
for priests.
Marriage?
We could print it
by hand.
Using emblematic pictures.
Go.
I'll tell you
when and how we can meet. Go.
They are waiting for you.
I am so happy
to see you finally, Abbé.
I was just thinking about
our last meeting.
And I believe
that something remained
unclear between us.
This business of the Abbé,
as you put it,
of the 'euthanasian' Abbé.
Do you maintain that Mr Persienne
played a negative role?
Totally incomprehensible.
I mean, his presence
here in the Church
is a mystery to me.
Even admitting
the existence of two orders,
an atheist Abbé
examining from a scientific stand...
Please, carry on.
The Abbe has been here
for a while.
Don't say you hadn't seen him?
You were saying...
According to the distinction...
Yes, indeed.
According to the distinction...
The damned distinction.
The distinction between
the temporal order and that of grace
makes comprehensible,
and so possible,
the activity of a worldly
Therapeutic Father.
I'm glad to hear you say so.
You understand that
Father Persienne
speaks about a nature
not yet touched by grace.
Whom the Church above all else
teaches how to die.
It teaches that man is destined
by grace to live.
By death of the cross.
Be careful.
Wait another two or three years
and you'll have your tum
to do good.
Be firm in your discipline.
That's all.
Either grace
has uprooted pride
and left humility in such a soul.
Or the soul rejoices
in a pretence Mr Persienne
recognises well,
since he perhaps
has been its victim.
Because the Church has chosen,
she can divide atheist priest
from therapist
in the person of Mr Persienne.
So well that you mix them up,
influenced by your own demon.
Everyone
is descending on you today.
I have a message for you.
There is a project I'm sure
will interest you.
The community no longer
hides its interest
in the report
you are writing about us.
A report, I believe,
for La Montague.
We consider the report
to be necessary.
And we would like to help you
finish it.
I'm afraid I don't know you.
But the community knows you.
It appreciates you.
I don't want to get involved
with the Black Party.
The community turns a blind eye
to that legend.
It only wants to help clarify
what should be clarified.
Come.
There is a project
of writing a monograph.
In it certain opinions
will be discussed
concerning the two orders
and the Immaculate...
Who told you about this monograph?
Certain propositions
were made to us.
The community
is pleased about this.
Happy that differences
are discussed within the Church.
That monograph does not exist.
Come with me.
We might find
we have interests in common.
They represent the Black Party.
I have nothing to do here.
Be patient.
I was just saying,
as far as I'm concerned,
the person who contacted me
for this ecumenical task
was Mother Angélique.
It is rather surprising
that we were all contacted
by the same person.
Here's the Devotion's
representative.
Mass for Mother Angélique
tomorrow at 7
It's dreadful.
And this mass?
What? You didn't know anything?
Not here. Come.
Our superiors have
secularised our community.
Take up God's protection.
So that on a bad day you can resist
and fight to the bitter end.
Hold firm.
With Truth as your belt.
Dressed
in the breast-plate of Justice.
Feet clad in ardour
for the Evangelist of Peace.
Always wearing
the shield of Faith,
thanks to which you can extinguish
the flames of Evil.
Take the helmet of Salvation
and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
Can it really be him?
He who will pronounce
the words of the consecration?
He who will hold the Body of Christ
and place the essence of the Lord
on the tongue?
Don Malagrida,
Inquisitor of the faith...
Our battle is not against
flesh and blood.
But against
the spiritual presence of evil
in holy places.
Usurper of Christ!
You'll never get me!
I am leaving Rome. You have failed.
I cannot hold you back.
Go to God by the path
that seems right.
You don't know yourself
as one should know.
And since you need to know yourself,
you will return.
Subtitles by Miriam Heard