On Diary of a Country Priest (Dispatch from the Dark Ages)

11/30/2008

On Diary of a Country Priest (Dispatch from the Dark Ages)

In which The Gay Recluse loves Robert Bresson.

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In Diary of a Country Priest (1951), Robert Bresson offers us a portrait of a beautiful and painfully sensitive young priest who has just arrived to his new parish. For reasons that are never quite explained, the priest is mocked and detested by the local citizens; those who hate him include a rich young aristocratic heiress, her father the count, and a mob of ignorant young teenage farm girls (i.e., it's not a class issue).

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At one point, he does make a connection with the aristocrat's wife -- who in her grief over a dead son has shut herself off from the world -- but she dies the next day and her evil daughter spreads malicious rumors that the priest caused this, when in fact he had guided the countess to a place of solace and peace.

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The genius of Bresson in this film is less in the story than the seamless transitions between the priest's awkward conversations with others and his own mental dialogue, in which he narrates for us -- i.e., the audience -- his discomfort and seeming incomprehension with regard to the pain the world never ceases to bring to him, despite his best intentions.

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For some reason, nobody interprets this as an allegory of a gay man, striving to come to terms with his humanity in the dark ages.

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But we know better, particularly when the priest flees the country to the city, where he is blessed by those like him who have fallen from grace, and in this way returns to it.

Posted at 10:32 PM in Expression | Permalink

Comments

I love this image.

Posted by: C.Edwards | 12/02/2008 at 06:47 AM

Thanks, C.Edwards -- it's a photograph of some graffiti done by yours truly at the local subway stop. Read more here: http://thegayrecluse.com/2007/11/20/on-tears-for-the-gay-recluse/

Posted by: The Gay Recluse | 12/02/2008 at 07:17 AM

i honestly do not like what you have done to this picture of a US MARINE. i am all for gay rights but that gives you no right to do this on this photo. don't you have any respect for our military.

Posted by: USMC WIFE | 08/20/2009 at 12:12 AM

When you rule the world, USMC WIFE, you can make/enforce whatever laws you want; until then, it's not my job/concern to make you happy.

Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 08/20/2009 at 09:38 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past

Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.

Video: The Chaos Detective

The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.

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Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

11/30/2008