By the Grace of God

Name: By the Grace of God
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: October 18, 2019
Duration: 137 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Amélie Daure, Bernard Verley, Denis Menochet, Eric Caravaca, François Chattot

2019

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Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Ratings

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By The Grace Of God

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Movie Details & Credits

Music Box Films | Release Date: October 18, 2019 | Not Rated

Starring: Amélie Daure, Bernard Verley, Denis Menochet, Eric Caravaca, François Chattot, François Marthouret, Hélène Vincent, Josiane Balasko, Julie Duclos, Martine Erhel, Melvil Poupaud, Olivier Faliez, Swann Arlaud

Summary: Three adult men—Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud), François (Denis Ménochet), and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud)—band together to expose the code of silence that continues to enable a priest who abused them as boys. Their experiences powerfully illustrate the varying effects that the trauma of abuse causes on individuals and their families for years. TheThree adult men—Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud), François (Denis Ménochet), and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud)—band together to expose the code of silence that continues to enable a priest who abused them as boys. Their experiences powerfully illustrate the varying effects that the trauma of abuse causes on individuals and their families for years. The true story upon which the film is based is an ongoing scandal in France, with Philippe Barbarin, Cardinal of Lyon, convicted in March 2019 for concealing the conduct of Father Preynat.… Expand

Director: François Ozon

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 137 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Rex Reed

Oct 22, 2019

By the Grace of God is still one of the best films of 2019. Read full review

100

Glenn Kenny

Oct 17, 2019

By the Grace of God is a rarity: An important film that’s also utterly inspired. Read full review

Liam Lacey

Oct 17, 2019

Ozon’s film evolves less as a procedural story than a character study. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Odie Henderson

Oct 18, 2019

While this is a true story, Ozon goes the fictional movie route, taking a bit of dramatic license while keeping most of the actual details intact. The director impressively juggles the large scope of his script while maintaining the sense of intimacy for his male actors that he normally reserves for his female characters. Read full review

Ty Burr

Oct 23, 2019

By the Grace of God shows how one man’s evil acts spread into the cracks of not just his victims’ lives but the lives of their loved ones as well. But the film’s gathering crowd also testifies to the sustenance people take when their pain is shared and they pool approaches and resources. Read full review

David Rooney

Feb 14, 2019

This is a social justice film made with purposeful conviction and a quiet, never strident, sense of indignation. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Oct 30, 2019

By the Grace of God begins to spin its wheels, with unnecessary scenes that give color to the events, when we’re more interested in the grand movements. Read full review

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Bertaut1

Nov 14, 2019

A well-made film about dignity in the face of hypocrisy

Written and directed by François Ozon and originally planned as a documentary, Grâce à Dieu (By the Grace of God) is a partly-fictionalised account of the case of Fr. Bernard Preynat. Probably Ozon's most formally conventional work,A well-made film about dignity in the face of hypocrisy

Written and directed by François Ozon and originally planned as a documentary, Grâce à Dieu (By the Grace of God) is a partly-fictionalised account of the case of Fr. Bernard Preynat. Probably Ozon's most formally conventional work, with none of his usual visual panache, the film was modelled after Tom McCarthy's exceptional Spotlight (2015), an important comparison insofar as it speaks to Ozon's lack of formal gymnastics; in short, the conventional style is matched to the thematic seriousness, which depicts the Church as an institution that talks a lot about forgiveness and redemption, but seems to have very little understanding of justice or punishment.

The film begins in 2014 as Alexandre Guérin (Melvil Poupaud) discovers that Fr. Bernard Preynat (Bernard Verley), the priest who he believed to have been defrocked for sexually abusing him, is not only still a priest, but is still working with children. He contacts the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin (François Marthouret), but the Church won't take the matter much further, citing the 20-year statute of limitations. Alexandre, who has raised his five children in the faith, feels compelled to act, and reluctantly takes his story to the press. He's soon contacted by François Debord (Denis Ménochet), another victim of Preynat. Now an atheist, the more militant François advises marshalling the power of social media. Soon, they're joined by a third man, Emmanuel Thomassin (a heart-breaking turn by Swann Arlaud), whose entire adult life has been negatively affected by his childhood.

Although the film's central trio are fictional composites, the sequence of events is based on real-life, whilst both Preynat and Barbarin are very real, with Preynat (who has now been defrocked, with a criminal trial pending) believed to have molested up to 85 boys over a thirty 30-year period, most between the ages of 9 and 12. Rather than telling the stories of Alexandre, François, and Emmanuel concurrently, Ozon structures the film in the style of a relay, giving the narrative over to each in turn. Of course, there is overlap, and towards the end, Alexandre re-emerges as the protagonist, but this style allows for a slightly different story-telling technique for each man. Alexandre's act is largely epistolary, the stylistic formality of which captures his formal relationship with the Church. Once the more bullish and theatrical François takes over, the style becomes more confrontational. Then, in the third section, which focuses on the emotionally fragile Emmanuel, the film is at its most empathetic, with a stronger sense of humanism. In a film noticeable for its director's formal restraint, it's a well-handled and subtle way of matching form to content without necessarily foregrounding it. This structure also lends itself to exploring the psychological specificity of each man in a way that wouldn't have been possible via concurrent editing.

This is important because Ozon is interested in the mechanics of healing, with each man dealing with their experiences in different ways. Although Alexandre found strength in his faith, he's constantly on the defensive about how his actions are not intended as an attack against the Church, arguing "it's about justice, not revenge" and "I'm doing this for the church, not against it", as he points out that "families need to know the Church will always protect children". However, whereas Alexandre reaffirms his faith, François rejects his, arguing, "my faith is human, not Catholic hypocrisy". For Emmanuel, the process of healing seems barely to have begun, if it ever will. However, the film is unequivocal in asserting that for all three men, the trauma will never leave them, it's a part of who they are, not necessarily the main part, but a part nonetheless, a part with which they will always wrestle.

From a more critical standpoint, Ozon overuses the epistolary format in the first act, which often feels less like a coherent narrative held together by letters and more like a series of letters occasionally interrupted by "on-screen" events. The film also occasionally finds it difficult to escape its origins as a documentary, with some scenes, notwithstanding the superb acting, feeling more like respectful reconstructions rather than scenes in a narrative drama. The fact that the case is still ongoing also robs it of a natural structure, and one wonders if perhaps Ozon wouldn't have been better waiting until the conclusion of the criminal trial.

Less procedural than the investigative journalism-basis of Spotlight, Grâce à Dieu is no less honest or unsettling. It may be too controlled for some, whilst the measured pacing and hefty subject matter will undoubtedly put off others. Nevertheless, uncharacteristically solemn for Ozon, it is another important document on a subject that, sadly, seems unlikely to go away any time soon.… Expand

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Oibaf

Oct 20, 2019

Perfectly done but almost cold and not involving in victim cases. Good performances and cinematography but does not seem a Ozon's work: no atmosfere at all.

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Brent_Marchant

Nov 8, 2019

While the film sensitively deals with serious subject matter and becomes steadily more compelling as the narrative plays out, the overall fact-based story line nevertheless tends to be a little too "tame" in addressing its material and regularly becomes bogged down by extraneous scenes thatWhile the film sensitively deals with serious subject matter and becomes steadily more compelling as the narrative plays out, the overall fact-based story line nevertheless tends to be a little too "tame" in addressing its material and regularly becomes bogged down by extraneous scenes that add anecdotal touches but not much in the way of meaningful substance. One gets the impression that the film's heart is in the right place but that it wasn't willing to go for the jugular more than it probably should have. The Catholic Church may wield considerable power, but that doesn't immunize it against justified scrutiny and criticism, no matter how much good work it may do. This film misses the chance to take up that challenge and dish out the just desserts that the institution has coming to it.… Expand

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