Directed by:
Jaco Van DormaelCinematography:
Christophe BeaucarneComposer:
An PierléCast:
Pili Groyne, Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Deneuve, François Damiens, Yolande Moreau, Laura Verlinden, Serge Larivière, Didier De Neck, Romain Gelin (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
God exists! He lives in Brussels with his wife and daughter, Ea, and he’s a real jerk to them both. He lives in an apartment and spends most of his time in a giant office where he controls the world through an old computer. His son, JC, whom you may have heard of, made his escape long ago. When Ea gets fed up with her father, she decides to leave the nest, find her own apostles and write her own brand new testament. But before she makes her escape, Ea hacks God’s computer and leaks to the entire world their date of death by SMS. Her deed causes worldwide panic and God must scramble to fix it before humanity finds it has no need of him. (Madman Entertainment)
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Reviews (8)
Exasperatingly long and boring, with cringey humor, the peak of which is a male gorilla in the role of a life partner. These are exactly the reasons why I dislike French cinema (with a few exceptions). Plus, the film is purposely trying to cater to absolutely everyone. Luckily, I'm a cynic and I saw through it straight away.
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(50th KVIFF) Good escapist fun. Dormael is quite kitsch and sacrifices a lot of the overall goodwill (either with some of the humour, or pretending to be a deep well of truth, even though it’s closer to a kiddie pool), but fortunately, The Brand New Testament has so many bizarre ideas and jokes that flirt with political incorrectness that I actually enjoyed the project. If the film did away with all the spiritual nonsense about inner music and whatnot, it could have been memorable. But I’m still satisfied. It’s one of the most accessible and pleasing (but at the same time, not stupid) films of the festival. 75 %
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The French have a nice sense of humor that I quite enjoy. And in fact, so do the other francophone nations that participated in the film. However, even though I really liked the film in some parts and found it funny, there's still this strange dullness where I couldn't pay attention to the movie the whole time because it's just boring at times. It’s a shame, but it’s still very nice.
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A bizarre bit of weirdness that is therefore above all something quite different from what it presents itself to be, and instead of the cynically cynical darkly incorrect comedy it was advertised to be, it delivers a kindly little bit of humanity more or less about the universe, life, and everything, that laps a lot from the bowl of Wes/Roy Anders(s)on and especially Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Surprisingly, that's not quite its main problem (thanks largely to the successful cinematography). The real problem lies in the set rules of this seemingly surreal sweetness, all of whose starting points emerge from the technical and incredibly vague rules of the game as presented to us at the outset (the Deus and his machina, whose function and technical basis are in no way explained, such that it automatically allows for any plot needed to be kicked off through this contrived omniverse). If the creators are going to wank like this so they can do whatever they want, I want more than just a demonstration of how we should each live our own lives.
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Another French small-scale movie that took inspiration from Amélie but at the same time, it is holding itself back a bit. Everything else is compensated by the idea which a normally thinking person could never come up with. And all that is left is for Benoît Poelvoorde to finish the rest, and suddenly you have sowed the seeds of the most interesting and original French comedy of the modern time. Personally, I have to say that Benoît convinced me after a series of movies that he is one of the best European actors of today. It’s a pity that his character here is bad rather than funny. In any case, the film itself is definitely worth watching. The Brand New Testament is capable of surprising you more than once and of captivating you with its world.
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