Pastor's Diet
The pastor only eats bread and wine every day, because such a diet can make him "clear mind" and "feel stronger". This almost masochistic dietary choice, in addition to the meaning represented by wine and bread itself (the blood and flesh of Christ), is also a form of penance, transcending oneself in the pain of the flesh and getting closer to God. "I was a prisoner of the Holy Agony." Later, the stomach disease developed into stomach cancer, and even in the severe pain, he felt that he had seen the manifestation of God.
"In order to prepare the Lord's Supper, Christ distributed the bread to his disciples and said to them: Eat, this is my body. He raised the glass again and said: Drink, this is my blood. In remembrance of me, hereafter you Do the same."
Countess
Her love died early, her husband was unfaithful, and the Countess, who was living in pain, was full of anger and doubts about God, and she was extremely indifferent to her daughter. She said that if there was a place outside the jurisdiction of God, she was willing to ignore it. All fled there with his son, and said to God: "Do your worst and crush us!" In order to wake the countess, the priest used a very dangerous strategy, saying that God's punishment for her indifference could eventually be no longer with The sons meet and recognize each other. Heaven doesn't actually exist, only the world we live in exists, and salvation is here. Give up her self-esteem and everything and surrender to God unconditionally, and the kingdom of God will belong to her and her son. The shocked countess threw the necklace containing her son's picture into the fireplace after a painful struggle. This leap of faith under infinite self-renunciation is very similar to the biblical story of Abraham's sacrifice of his son. The Lord said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you" (Genesis 22). :2) With his faithful faith in God, Abraham took his son up the mountain, and just as he was about to swing his sword, an angel sent by God stopped him, saying, "Don't kill him, now I know you The true fear of God." Abraham then completed the sacrifice with a sheep as a substitute sacrifice. In the movie, the priest rescued the necklace in the fireplace and returned it to the countess, just like an angel preventing the sacrifice, the son was lost and found, the leap of faith was completed, and the countess finally gained peace.
"Infinite renunciation is the last stage before faith, and so one who does not make this movement cannot be said to have faith; for it is only in infinite renunciation that I realize my eternal validity, and only through faith a Talent can be said to have grasped existence." - Kiergaard, "Fear and Trembling"
precocious girl
In contrast to the selfish and indifferent villagers, the girl who has a vague admiration for the priest seems to be a manifestation of God's love. She was the only one who could recite the sacrament proficiently in the sermon class, and the most obvious thing was that when the pastor fainted in the cold mud due to a stomachache, it was the girl who saved him. Before he woke up, his inner monologue was: " I saw him (God), it was the face of a child."
earl's nephew
The earl's nephew came across a doctor who was going to see a doctor on a motorcycle, took the doctor to the station, and made some "blasphemous" remarks while waiting for the car to talk. He served as a soldier, fought in wars, saw extremely tragic conditions, and even a comrade who died was also a priest: "If God can't save every soldier, then what's the use of believing in God." Although the priest helped the countess to complete the leap of faith, he himself still questioned his own faith from time to time. The dialogue with the earl's nephew is more like the contradiction and struggle between his two inner selves. He originally thought that God would not let him die just like that, that there must be a more suitable moment for him to sacrifice himself. In the end, however, he died desolately in a foreign land not long after, and his last words before his death were: "What dose it matter? All is grace."
This kind of conflict of beliefs is one of the classic themes in various works, and Bresson's almost ambiguous ending is very meaningful. Whether he was abandoned by God or opened the door of eternity from death in the end depends on how he interprets it. The filmmaker's own heart. Believers see redemption, doubters see contradictions, and atheists probably see only psychoanalysis.
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