PRIEST
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Carlyle, Cathy Tyson. Screenplay: Jimmy McGovern. Director: Antonia Bird.
To tell you far more about myself than you ever really wanted to know, I am what is known in the parlance as a lapsed Catholic. Why would I make that information known? It certainly wouldn't be to promote the perception of objectivity in my evaluation of PRIEST; one might believe that I was inclined to look favorably on a film so roundly condemned by the Catholic Church sight unseen. Such is not the case. I explain that I am a lapsed Catholic because the themes in PRIEST are extremely familiar to me, and I believe that there is a story in those themes which would make a fine film. PRIEST could have been a compelling character study which respected the complexity of modern Catholicism, but instead it is, in its own way, just as dogmatic as it accuses the Church of being.
PRIEST stars Linus Roache as Father Greg Pilkington, a Catholic priest newly assigned to a parish in working class Liverpool. A potential conflict arises when the very orthodox Father Greg learns that another parish priest, Father Matthew (Tom Wilkinson), is not only a free-thinking and free-speaking social liberal, but is also cohabitating with their housekeeper Maria (Cathy Tyson). However, it soon becomes clear that Father Greg is living a double life of his own, frequenting the city's gay nightclubs. Father Greg struggles to reconcile his homosexuality and his vocation, but an even greater challenge to his faith comes when he is told in the confessional by a young parishoner (Christine Tremarco) that she is being sexually abused by her father--information a priest cannot divulge.
For much of the film, powerful acting and an intriguing character keep PRIEST on the right track. Roache, who resembles a young Gabriel Byrne, is convincing as the devoted Catholic who believes so strongly in the rules of his faith that he does nothing to prevent the abuse he knows is taking place, and denies communion to his lover Graham (an effectively subdued Robert Carlyle). At the same time, he finds himself unwilling or unable to deny his sexuality, violating both the celibacy required of his order and the Church's teachings on homosexuality. It is the kind of selective observation of Catholic dogma which is common among comtemporary Catholics, and evidence of a skewed set of priorities. Meanwhile, Father Matthew has come to terms with what he believes are the essentials of the faith, and lives a much happier life. Director Antonia Bird does a fine job of making iconography omnipresent; crucifixes appear everywhere, most brilliantly in a shot where a crucifix is placed between Father Greg and a reflection of himself, a concise visual summation of the two parts of his personality divided by the Church.
Unfortunately, what begins as a measured examination of religious hypocrisies turns into a kind of tirade. Screenwriter Jimmy McGovern apparently doesn't trust the audience to get his point from the events in Father Greg's life, so he turns the last half hour of the film into a series of sermons, philosophical discussions and exchanges of scripture passages. Not only does the film become pedantic at this point, it simply becomes dull, and crawls toward its emotional climax. The flawed but human characters whose conflicts seem real become little more than mouthpieces.
Perhaps it is most difficult to digest the message of PRIEST because it makes so little effort to treat the opposing point of view with any respect. The only priests in the film who are not alcoholics or having sex are scowling, hateful and cadaverous; there is not a single character who supports orthodoxy who is treated as anything but an ogre. Whether or not the Catholic Church is deserving of criticism is not even the point. This is an examination of doctrinal morality as Oliver Stone might have done it, too full of homilies and too lacking in an understanding that issues are usually shades of grey. There are probably Father Gregs and Father Matthews in many parishes around the world, and that is an issue deserving of attention. By sensationalizing Father Greg's story, however, the makers of PRIEST end up preaching almost exclusively to the converted.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 vows of celibacy: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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