Whanganui Film Society's official opening night film is the screening of the 2015 Belgian/French co-production The Brand New Testament (Le tout nouveau testament).
This irreverent comedy stars some of France's favourite comedic actors including Yolande Moreau, François Damiens and Catherine Deneuve. The screening is open to members only, with memberships available online at whanganuifilmsociety.org.nz or from 7pm at the venue.
Prices have changed slightly this year: Full membership entitles admission to all 32 films in the 2018 season and is now $95 or $75 for discounted or returning members; half year memberships are $50, and 3-film samplers are now available for $25. Youth under 18 years can get a full year membership at a subsidised rate of $25 (less than $1 per film!). All memberships can be paid off by instalment. Visit the website for details.
Synopsis
"In Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael's universe, God (Benoit Poelvoorde) is a mean-spirited bastard lounging around his Brussels apartment in dressing gown and trackies, watching sport on TV and wreaking havoc on the world from his DOS-run PC. Goddess (the marvellous Yolande Moreau), his long suffering wife, sticks to her embroidery and bides her time. But 10-year-old daughter Éa (played by a fantastic young actress, Pili Groyne) has taken one too many strappings from the old man and resolves — with the help of her better-known older brother — to liberate the world from the malign hand of Dad. Not to give away too much about her mission, she sets about recruiting six disciples whose testimony about their own miracle-free lives will constitute the Brand New Testament. Surreal silliness ensues, with some florid CGI assistance, and memorable encounters with, amongst others, a small boy who wants to be a girl and Catherine Deneuve as a wealthy shopaholic who bonds with a gorilla. Literal adherents of the previous two testaments need not apply, but there's a daffy innocence — a touch of Amélie — about this brand new one."
— Bill Gosden, NZIFF 2015
Review
"This is only the start of a surreal comedy whose endless visual imagination matches its conceptual wit. Most of the humour is too lighthearted to offend all but the most reverent believers, and the movie's inventiveness rarely flags. What plays out on screen is a zany fairytale in the Monty Python mode, but not quite as silly, and with a streak of pictorial poetry.
"The disciples Ea collects include Aurélie (Laura Verlinden), a beautiful woman with a prosthetic arm from a subway accident; Jean-Claude (Didier De Neck), a clerk who quits his job to follow a flock of birds to the Arctic; Marc (Serge Larivière), a sex maniac obsessed with his first adolescent crush; François (François Damiens), a serial killer; the unhappily married Martine (Catherine Deneuve), who falls in love with a gorilla; and Willy (Romain Gelin), a little boy who wants to live out his remaining time as a girl.