☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Le Confessionnal (1995) – Robert Lepage
I re-watched Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953) to
prepare myself for this film which also takes place in Quebec City and contains
flashbacks to the days when Hitch was in town filming his film. Lothaire
Bluteau plays Pierre, returning home for his father’s funeral and helping his
adopted brother, Marc (Patrick Goyette), to solve the mystery of his parentage –
his mother (Pierre’s aunt) committed suicide after having her baby out of
wedlock (back in the early ‘50s). It’s
quite possible that the father was a priest (and a defrocked rich gay man is a
prime suspect) and that links us to I Confess which starred Montgomery Clift as
a priest accused of murder. Director
Robert Lepage, known for his stage work, imbues the film with a lot of style –
and stylised camerawork, use of colour, jump cuts, etc. Nevertheless, the film seems underplayed with
the characters (or characterisations) not quite achieving enough clarity to
help us to identify with them. Perhaps
there’s an echo of the stage and its formalities that intrudes? Or the production
values are not as high as they should be? Nevertheless, the idea for the film and its
style make it worth a look.
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