ICI-BAS

France, 2012, 100 minutes, Colour.
Celine Salette, Eric Caravaca, Maud Rayer, Jacques Speisser.
Directed by Jean-Pierre? Denis.

France, a story of a nun infatuated by a priest. The film is not quite as sensationalist as it may sound. For one, the setting is the Vichy territory in 1944 with the Resistance battling the Germans. Life in the city is presented in detail, as is work at the hospital, and life within the convent. There are also scenes of sabotage and the work of the Resistance.

We are introduced to a little girl in the French countryside, Luce, during World War I, with the news of the exploits of Marshall Petain. The local parish priest, a kindly man, gives her a holy picture. The scene shifts to 1944 with Luce now a nun (Celine Salette), working in a hospital for the wounded French and Germans. She is an intense woman, in her care for the injured, in her community life. She experiences some disturbance when a nun is sent from the convent because of a particular friendship with another nun. This alerts the audience to sexual tensions in religious life.

A priest from the north, Martial (Eric Caravaca) works for the local bishop, a very sympathetic portrait of a bishop who visits the wounded, supports the Resistance, tries to help Luce. The priest is active with the partizans but is in process of losing his faith and moving out of his ministry. But, with the help of the bishop, he is able to move around, make contacts, convey messages. When he is wounded, Sister Luce is one of those looking after him.

In her conversation with the Superior of the convent (again a sympathetic portrait of someone in charge in the church), we hear that Luce is prone to different religious experiences, kinds of visions, seeing light, reading meaning into people she meets. And this happens with Fr Martial. She decides to give herself to him when she comes dressed in lay clothes. It is a rough experience for both Martial and Luce and he almost immediately regrets it. She does not. She dwells on it in her mind. Her behaviour is erratic. She confesses to the chaplain, a severe man who takes a very dim and grim view of what she has done.

Eventually, Luce dons the lay clothes and goes to find Martial, only to see him with one of the Resistance women. She collapses mentally and emotionally, becoming paranoid about being betrayed. She consequently betrays Martial and the Resistance by writing letters to the authorities giving information about movements and plans. Ultimately, the partisans abduct here and she is executed, her death wish becoming stronger. Martial stands at her grave before the partisans move on.

The film-makers take up the themes of celibacy and vows of chastity, the pressure on celibate men, especially in the disruptive dangers and demands of war, the effect on consecrated women in a pre-psychological formation era. There are no judgments made, just the presentation of the characters in their situations, the realities of love, lust, obsession for men and women with, or losing, religious convictions.

In the context of its setting, it is presented realistically. In the context of its release in France in 2012, it carries the issues of the previous decades where so many priests and nuns have left their religious life because of sexual issues. The present can be understood through the lens of the past.

1. France during World War II? Occupied France, Vichy? The Resistance? 1944?
2. A film about religious issues? Religious life and priesthood? The film’s focus on a nun, her character, life, crisis?
3. The role of the priests in Vichy? The bishop and his care? The priest and traditions? The old priest? The chaplain at the convent? Father Martial?
4. The re-creation of the period, the town, the region, the farms, the woods, the hospital, the cathedral, the convent? A sense of realism? The musical score and religious chant?
5. The plausibility of the plot: the war, occupation, the resistance? Tension, emotions, crises, betrayal?
6. The portrait of Luce? A little girl, World War I, playing with the tops and her sister? Her mother? The visit of the priest, the holy card? The mention of Petain?
7. Luce and her piety? As a little girl, becoming a nun, her work in the war hospital, dedication to the wounded, collaboration with the doctor, her quiet personality? The situation of Jeane and Camille, Jeanne leaving, Camille staying and her grief? Coping? The role of the superior, her being a more sympathetic woman? piety in the convent, prayers, the office, the discussion of her apparitions, flight, understanding people? The credibility of this ability? Her mental state? Her troupe religious? Her prayer, using the language of prayer? Seeing God in people, in the patients? Seeing God in martial, the glow? The issue of passion, justifying it, herself deception? Going to the cathedral, going to the wounded, in secular clothes, the effect on her, travel, her experience and naiveté, following Martial? The passion, the effect, prior, memories, love of god yet being disturbed? The superior, the confession, the grim attitude of the chaplain, life in the dormitory, the pressures, leaving, seeing Martial and the woman, her feeling scorned, mental attitude, the betrayal, the decision to betray the partisans? Her letters? Her torment and the silence of God?
8. Life in the convent, Camille, the nuns, their work? The compassionate superior, her listening, allowing the sisters to fool around like children in the dormitory? In the chapel, urging Luce to sing? The visit to the bishop?
9. The significance of the relationship between Jeanne and Camille? Only Jeanne leaving? alerting the audience to sexual tensions for nuns?
10. The doctor, his work, the Resistance, travelling? The visit of the bishop and his meeting the wounded? Germans and local wounded?
11. The character of Martial, a priest from the north, in Vichy, working in the Resistance, the consent of the bishop, the bishop relying on him, his role as a priest moving in and out of the city, based in the cathedral, messages? His personal crisis, faith? The messages, his being wounded, being tendered by Luce, the talk, her infatuation, the effect on him, the passionate scene, his regret and showing, with the other member of the resistance, preparing to leave? Luce and her betrayal, his standing by her grave?
12. The picture of the partisans, as a group, the raids, their leader, sense of mission, the attacks, the German ambush, the traps, individuals warning the others?
13. Abducting Luce, the puzzle for the superior, for Camille? Her being held?
14. Luce and the writing of the letters, her sense of betrayal, paranoia, her not denying what she had done, her death wish? The preparation for the execution, some of the men refusing to shoot her, no blindfold?
15. The war setting, the difficulties, religious issues in this context, religious chastity, priestly celibacy, issues of prayer and faith? And the silence of God?