''La vie de Jésus'' (English: ''The Life of Jesus'') is the 1997 debut feature film by director
Bruno Dumont. It was the winner of the
BFI
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...
Sutherland Trophy
The Sutherland Trophy was created in 1958 by the British Film Institute as an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year".
History
In 1997, the criteria changed to ...
, the
Prix Jean Vigo and European Discovery of the Year at the
European Film Awards
The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mo ...
, as well as the special mention for
Camera d’Or at Cannes. Set in the town of
Bailleul, the film casts a bleak look at the life of an unemployed teenager with learning difficulties who descends into rape and murder. The choice of title for the film is unexplained.
Plot
Freddy is an unemployed epileptic youth, living with his mother who runs a little bar and sleeping when he can with his girlfriend Marie, who works in a supermarket. When not attending hospital he hangs around with four unemployed boys (the sixth member of the gang is in hospital dying of
AIDS). The five are members of an all-male marching band that has an all-female majorettes section and, after a rehearsal, they gang rape one of the girls. Her father publicly denounces them as cowardly rapists. Marie, disgusted at Freddy's behaviour, accepts the advances of Kader, from a North African family. The five abduct Kader, and Freddy kicks him to death. The police inspector denounces him as a cowardly racist murderer.
Production
Director
Bruno Dumont confirmed that porn actors were used in the unsimulated sex scene between Freddy's and Marie's characters. "The main actors were replaced by body doubles. I did not like it, towards them. If they had accepted, I would have do. Today, I wouldn't. In all my other films, everything is fake, it's cinema," he said.
Home video release
* ''La vie de Jésus'' - Director-approved Masters of Cinema Series edition - Released in the UK 21 July 2008
*''La vie de Jésus'' - Director-approved special edition in Blu-Ray and DVD formats, released by the Criterion collection in 2019.
References
External links
*
MoC Series website for ''La vie de Jésus''
1997 films
1997 drama films
1990s erotic drama films
1997 directorial debut films
French drama films
1990s French-language films
French erotic drama films
French films about revenge
Films directed by Bruno Dumont
European Film Awards winners (films)
1990s French films
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