Le sacrement

Watching The Sacrament on Netflix the other day, another film came to mind: The Celebration 1998 by. Thomas Vinterberg. Both are dealing with family reunions and secrets reveals. Hugo Clause's The Sacrament is a brutally honest comedic tragedy with many surprises until the very end of this well done film directed by the author of the book. The story flows pleasantly and the acting is superb with a great cast, even Claude the eccentric gay character (who is criticized for overacting in the previous reviews) is a fresh air among the older family members who are at odds with one and other all the time. His secret is tragic since THEM and the ignorant society messed him up by not accepting and supporting him as he is but was sent to "rehabilitation" to some idiot conversion therapy doctor. Just recently these money making practices by Christian organizations were forbidden in some USA states.

I adored Natalie, the sweet, innocent, loving and devoted character who at the end of the film is devastated and loosing all she had going on so well so far. Everything is centered around Deedee, the closeted gay catholic priest who is letting this yearly celebration to happen in his home and I suspect the reason being the cute young sexy Claude. Surprise after surprise in the collective behavior and secrets revealed one by one. It is an artistic well written, directed and acted for those who love the 7th art.

A gallery of characters, the portrait of a priest dominated by his demons and game of apparences, a young Carl Ridders in a role reminding, maybe too much , characters offered by Helmut Berger and family problems, familiar, reduced at basic traits .

A film defined by the encounter with pieces from work of Hugo Claus , who, as author of novel inspired the film, as director of it, too, seems force the note , offering , in high measure, only a sarcastic perspective about couple malfunction and an end reminding seagull by Cehov and having as essential good point the portrait of Nathalie offered by Ann Petersen.

A dark film, preserving many details from Cehov universe,

Hugo Claus is probably the most respected Belgian novelist ever and the man did it a bit of everything, and so he also is a director with "De Leeuw Van Vlaanderen" and "Vrijdag" being his most popular ones. For those who know Claus, they might know that for Claus nothing is holy, even not the Catholic church. The movie is based on his own novel "Omtrent Deedee" that tells the story of a priest Deedee who is among his believers a well respected Christian man but once he's among his own four walls he's facing the problems every human being is. "Het sacrament" tells the story of 24 hour as Deedee organises a yearly familyreunion and every personage has his own typical problems. A man who must obey his dominant wife every second, a woman who wants to jump in bed with every man she sees, a woman who believes so much in God that it becomes a pathetic, a man who must borrow his sister to give him a proper coat, you name it and you'll find in "Het sacrament". But all by all it's not such a good picture as the movie is a bit too much like a theatreplay and tons of good actions are spoiled by the neurotic Claude (played by Carl Ridders, a man who is overaécting so much it is annoying) even if that character is a bit the red line in the whole story. For the rest of the acting you see nothing but topquality with Frank Aedenboom (why is this man only to see in a terrible soap these days?) and Jan Decleir as the Robert DeNiro's of Belgium...

I guess there isn't a Belgian who could claim that he has never heard of Hugo Claus before. As a director he isn't very famous of course, but as a novelist he sure is one of the best Belgium has ever had. Almost every year we are told that Claus might win a Nobel Price for Literature. So far it has never happened, but who knows... With his pen sharper than a knife, not sparing anyone or anything (and certainly not the hypocrisy of the Catholic church), he sure deserves it.

"Het Sacrament" tells the story of a family reunion in the fifties. When it's the birthday of the maid of the priest of a small town in the North West of Belgium, he allows her to invite all her relatives in his house. But like in every family there are some problems. The bossy and depressed wife of one of the brothers is not accepted by the group, her son has been in a mental asylum and is clearly gay (still seen as a great sin at that time), one of the sisters once had an affair while being married and probably still has... The only person that seems to be pure and honest is Deedee, the priest, but as the movie progresses, he too appears to be of flesh and blood and not exactly blameless...

There can be no doubt about the fact that this was one of the finest casts that could ever play in a Flemish movie (A movie from the Dutch part of Belgium). With people like Ann Petersen, Frank Aendenboom, Jan Decleir, ... you can be certain of some very fine performances. But not only the acting is good, so is the story. It takes the time to develop itself, the characters and the situations are recognizable (especially for the Flemish viewers, but probably also for others) and Claus hasn't tried to make certain situations look nicer (I can't exactly tell you what I mean, but it has something to do with the priest Dee Dee at the end of the movie - just watch the movie and you'll know what I mean)... These things really make this movie worth watching. But not everything about it is perfect. The biggest problem that I had with the movie was the performance by Carl Ridders, playing Claude. His style just didn't completely fit in this movie. While the other performances are sober, his performance is a bit over the top. I wouldn't call it overacting, but it just doesn't seem right in this movie. Still, don't let that be a reason not to watch this movie.

Especially when you aren't familiar with the work of Hugo Claus, this movie might be very interesting to watch. Personally I still like his books more than his movies. He did a good job with this movie, but in my opinion he should stick to writing the novels and leaving the directing of the movies to someone else. It's not because you are excellent in one artistic field, that you will automatically be excellent in other fields as well. What he did was OK, but a professional director might have made it exceptional. I give this movie a 6.5/10.

I saw this movie several times. It depicts exactly what happens in a suburban village years ago. Priests were notables,almost God. Then the curtain falls. The family gathers and slowly we get to know their history and facts. Sublimely casted and acted. After all the priest is human too. Keeping up appearances could have been a working title. Claus digs deep and deeper. Excellent work from the actors. The scene when everybody gets drunk and when Carl Ridders decides to end this hypocrisy is worth waiting and watching. One of the best movies of a contemporary writer/director/artist.