Le sorcier du ciel

When I was at Sunday school (which at the time took place on Thursday in France) the priest showed us this film one day.With hindsight ,I wonder now if it was not too much for ten- year -old brats .I remember those scenes when the devil revealed himself to Jean-Marie Vianney ,Le Curé D'Ars ,with a sinister noise which scared me to death.It is less a religious movie than a fantasy and horror work.

It was made by Marcel Blistene ,who directed Edith Piaf in her best film "Etoile Sans Lumière".Georges Rollin who plays the lead is completely forgotten today,but his character is not: his surname ("Vianney" ) has become a first name since he was canonized by the Vatican.

This very unusual and very rare film is a biography of Jean-Marie Vianney, the celebrated curé of a small French town called Ars who single-handedly brought it back to the Church after the French Revolution with his miraculous cures and who was eventually made a saint for his effort. It is unusual as it shows very graphically the curé's personal relationship with the Devil during late-night conversations which make watching this film a very creepy experience and one you never forget after witnessing it. Although this film was at least as popular as "Song of Bernadette" in Catholic circles in the fifties as a propaganda tool, it has almost totally disappeared from the radar nowadays and even finding a 16 mm version of it has become the Holy Grail of film collectors everywhere. I remember it as a very powerful piece of movie-making. It is based on a book by Jean-Charles Reynaud (who also wrote "Carnet de bal") which is not so difficult to find.

As the precedent user noticed ,since the Church has made the Curé D'Ars a saint,his surname has become a first (or Christian should I write) name: boys are called "Vianney" nowadays.

The most revered saints in French history (Bernadette,Thérèse De Lisieux ,Jean-Marie Vianney) are humble people .Don't we learn that this vicar was a born loser ,that he was the worst student that had ever been in the seminar ? He was given the worst village where he stood no chance to convert the inhabitants .

When he arrives ,the village,Ars ,celebrating a wedding , whoops it up ; a festive atmosphere lingers on the place ,even afterwards.To make the matters worse, the Devil (voice over) comes to call on the poor priest ,leads him to temptation , repeating that there's no pie in the sky and the material life is the only life worth living ,because the hereafter is nowhere to be found.Except for one scene , the movie cannot be considered a horror and fantasy effort .A creaking announces the presence of the Demon ,but his voice has nothing to do with Mercedes McCambridge's in "the exorcist" .

George Rollin (whose only claim to fame is the part of Goupi-Monsieur in Becker's 'Goupi Mains-Rouges " ) is a bit wishy-washy and Blistène's directing listless ;so it takes a lot of imagination to believe that this man was able to work a miracle and get a whole village back to God.

The copy still in print is in need of restoration.