Léon Morin, Priest

During the Occupation by the Germans, a single young attractive atheistic mother with lesbian inclinations learns about God through the spiritual guidance of a young and attractive priest. And of course she falls in love with him. The cast wouldn’t be complete without characters like a Christian (non)informer or (non)prostitute in Vichy who plays the game on all the sides, just to be safe. Simply a black and white slow passing movie where the characters are not at all black and white with a strong final twenty minutes. P.S.: Apparently there is more than one version (three maybe?). I watched the one that is almost two hour long where the cuts were noticeable mainly with regard to the supporting roles. Almost all these storylines were lost. The above mentioned Vichy woman and the daughter of the main female hero suffered from the cuts the most. P.P.S.: Vernon gave us all the best of his role in Melville’s feature debut in the few seconds he was on screen. Well, almost. (13/01/2009)