By the Grace of God

11/15/2019

**_A well-made film about dignity in the face of hypocrisy_** >Rape _is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them._ - Pope John Paul II; _Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae_ (1992) >_L__a majorité des faits, grâce à Dieu, sont prescrits._ [_The majority of cases, by the grace of God, are inadmissible_] - Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin, referring to the suspected 8

3/27/2022

A cleverly put together foray into this most highly sensitive of subjects tells three different, though conjoining, stories about men who were all abused by the same priest in their childhood. The film is as much about the ways in which they (and their families) have/have not reconciled themselves to this most heinous of behaviour by someone trusted by all, as it is about their subsequent pursuit of this man, and of the broader church in order to stop this happening again. It's told in quite a sober fashion - but that does rob it of some of the more essential emotions and can leave it feeling just a little too "dry". It is also far too long - the style in which François Ozon chooses to relate these stories allows for more development of the individual characters but at the expense of any r