JesusMontreal

Jesus of Montreal

     The next pair of movies I shall examine put a creative spin on the Jesus movie tradition. They both involve an actor who is hired to play the part of Jesus, and for one reason or another they themselves become Christ-figures. A Christ-figure is an artistic motif used in literature and film to essentially tell the story of Jesus without using the character of Jesus or any of his contemporaries.* These next two films are unique insofar as they also involve the story of the Jesus in addition to the Christ-figure. The first of these movies is Jesus of Montreal (1990). This is a story about an actor who is hired to revamp a thirty-five-year-old passion play and modernize it. Over the course of the film and during the writing and putting on of the passion, the actor starts to embody Jesus. As the film continues, the distinction between Jesus and the actor playing Jesus gets quite blurred.
     Denys Arcand wrote and directed this film. He got the idea when he was auditioning actors for a commercial and one explained to him that he had long hair and a beard because he was playing Jesus in a passion play. Arcand found it an interesting paradox that this man could be Jesus during the evening, yet audition for commercials during the day (Stern, Jefford and Debona 322). He then wrote this movie to explore this idea.
     The film begins with a prologue of sorts in which, in a very John the Baptist like way, an actor is proclaimed to be the greatest actor of his generation. The actor then in turn points to another actor and claims it is this one who is the greatest. Thus enters Daniel Coulombe, who then tells this other actor that his next role is Jesus. Then the movie truly begins as we see two women singing in a church as the opening credits roll. These women act both as a frame for the movie and as our perspective into the movie. Even though they are not featured very often, they drive home the point Arcand wanted to make with the film. We will come back to them later.
     The film bills Jesus as a spiritual role model; however, it never quite explains what the spirituality of Jesus is, only that it is more than what we have in modern life. After the initial scene we encounter Daniel again talking to a priest about the passion play and how the existing one needs to be updated. Daniel then goes out to find actors for the play** and do research into whom Jesus really was.
     When he gets his material together and finally presents the Passion play, it turns out to be quite scandalous. The scandal involved is the play's total demystifying of the story (Tatum 182). It begins by dating the gospels late and calling the disciples liars. It then goes on to suggest that Jesus was born out of fornication between Mary and a Roman soldier. There is a clear emphasis on Jesus' Jewishness as the opening narration is read. The action then begins as Jesus is sentenced before Pilate. Miracles are ascribed to Jesus,*** but they are written off as just things we moderns cannot understand. Also, a list of several other "magicians" from Jesus' time is given. Next we move in the play to Jesus' teachings. Almost all of the teachings are moral teachings having to do with the present world (Stern, Jefford and Debona 308). Little is spoken about God.****
     Jesus is then crucified. The resurrection has also been demythologized. The resurrection appearances are placed five to ten years after the death of Jesus, and the Jesus we come across in the resurrection is actually a different actor than the one who was Jesus in the play. The actors then sum up the Passion play and essentially tell the audience what they should take away from it. The line that says it all is "You must find your own path to salvation." And this is essentially what Arcand is saying with his movie (Stern, Jefford and Debona 319).
     Arcand uses this movie and this picture of Jesus to critique the institutionalized church as well as modern society, and he rejects both in favor of an individualistic religious experience. He clearly reflects this in the picture of Jesus he presents us with in the Passion story. The supernatural elements preserved by the church are clearly rejected as superficial in the story of Jesus. He is a man who has come to terms with his own spirituality and should be exalted as an example to others. The church has preserved him, but only in the shallowest of ways and used him as a way to achieve worldly power. Modern society also is rejected in Jesus' teachings and how he handles himself with Pilate. The same themes are also emphasized in Daniel as the movie progresses.*****
     This theme runs throughout the movie. One of the places where it is nicely illustrated is when there is an accident and Daniel is on the cross during the play.   The cross is knocked over and gives Daniel what turns out to be a fatal blow. When the ambulance gets there, one of Daniel's friends says to take him to the public hospital. The fist aid squad says that it is full, so they take Daniel to the Catholic hospital. When Daniel is there he is not treated very well and ends up leaving without even seeing anyone. He then goes to the subway, presents an apocalyptic message, and passes out. When this occurs, Daniel is rushed to a Jewish hospital where he is treated but unfortunately dies. The analogy is that secular society totally rejects him and the institutionalized church has him but does not do anything with him. The Jewish hospital acts as a reflection of Daniel/Jesus, so it is the individual who, by himself or herself, can achieve true spirituality because it is here that Daniel is taken care of and ultimately leaves this world for the next.
     As this discussion concludes, we return to the two initial women and see the same theme once again. First we encounter them in the institutionalized church. Discontented with that, they leave and we come across them again at a tryout for a commercial.******   They find no satisfaction here either. The movie closes with them singing, by themselves, in the subway. In essence they are creating their own path to salvation (Stern, Jefford and Debona 319). The women also serve as our window into the story. We are with them as outside observer seeing the events transpire within the story. At the end, we too, are left alone, as they are, to create our own path to salvation with Jesus as a memory and a role model.

*An exception to this would be Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) when we have Brian, who is a Christ-figure and also a contemporary of Jesus.
**The parallel to this act of Daniel's is Jesus calling his disciples.
***All miracles and teachings happen in a flashback within the play between sentencing and crucifixion.
****We never see the full play, only pieces of it. Later in the movie Daniel as Jesus speaks of having only one Father in heaven, but this is clearly a critique of the clergy and the titles they use to elevate themselves among people, so once again the emphasis of the teaching is this world.
*****The distinction between Jesus and Daniel gets more and more blurred as the movie continues. I have tried to draw a line between the two the best that I could. To some extent this may be an artificial line, but for my analysis I have felt the need to draw it.
******It is in this scene that we have a parallel to Jesus' cleansing of the temple when Daniel drives out the advertising agents from the theater for mistreating the actors.