UNDER THE SUN OF SATAN REVIEWED
“Under The Sun of Satan” is a look at a priest trying to save the soul of a young woman. Gerard Depardieu offers up one of his best roles as a priest daring to say that the Catholic Church is wrong. Every representative of religion in 1920s France goes out of their way to shut him down. All the while, Depardieu has his faith and questioning of localized authority. The source story has been adapted before as Mouchette and Diary of a Country Priest, but I prefer this take.
The audience can sympathize with Depardieu in a way that was missing from the other two films. A young priest that knows everything is wrong, but he has to buy into it to save a lady is so cinematically perfect. The film is dark without being cynical. The church isn’t turned into a moustache twirling villain, but they’re shown as an ever-present entity dedicated to shutting down dissent. Oppression by omnipresence rarely gets tackled in modern works, so it might be tough for younger audiences to comprehend. Stick with it, people.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- 2012 Interview with star Gerard Depardieu (12 minutes)
- 2012 Interview with cinematographer Willy Kurant (17 minutes)
- 2012 Interview with production designer Katia Wyszkop
- Deleted Scenes (58 minutes)
- Behind The Scenes footage (15 minutes)
- Original Trailer – 2015 Re-release trailer
A/V STATS
- 1.66:1 1080p transfer
- LPCM 2.0 mono