Life of Jesus

Theatrical Release Date: 1998 10 02 (USA)

UPC: 720917507125

Studio: Fox Lorber

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Watch With Your Teen]

Summary: This French coming-of-age movie marked the debut of writer-director Bruno Dumont. The film bears a symbolic resemblance to the life of Jesus Christ, but it has no direct relationship with his life. The story is set in the small, economically stagnant town of Bailleul in northern France. Freddy (David Douche) is a 19-year-old epileptic whose mother runs a small restaurant. Freddy and his friends get unemployment benefits and ride motorbikes to kill time. They are bored and seething with unfocused resentments, which they often take out on local Arab immigrants. One immigrant, Kader (Kader Chaatouf), enrages Freddy and his friends by proposing marriage to Freddy's girlfriend Marie (Marjorie Cottreel), so Freddy and his friends set out to punish him. Dumont went on to direct the acclaimed drama L'humanite, also set in Bailleul. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Fassbinder Award – European Film Academy Jury Prize – Sćo Paulo International Film Festival Special Camera d'Or Prize – Cannes Film Festival

Features: Awards
Original theatrical trailer

Life of Jesus

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 04/27/1999

Runtime: 96 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
0. Scene Access
1. The Visit. [5:49]
2. The Band. [11:53]
3. Let's Play Chicken. [14:17]
4. The Beach Trip. [17:15]
5. The Heat. [10:22]
6. Forgive Me. [19:15]
7. The Assault. [3:22]
8. The Field. [4:32]

Adam Bregman

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of La Vie de J?sus is the way director Bruno Dumont captures the restlessness of small town life for a group of unemployed teenage boys. Trapped in a tiny, rural French town with little to do, Freddy (David Douche) and his buddies cruise around on their scooters, harass a local Arab immigrant, Kader (Kader Chaatouf), and play snare drums in an incredibly sad marching band. There is some great black humor in this film, but it may fly over the heads of some audiences. Freddy is at least lucky that he has a girlfriend, Marie (Marjorie Cottreel), whom he gets it on with in one particularly graphic scene in a wheat field. (Dumont is partial to sex scenes that are not at all sexy.) Freddy's buddies can only wish that they had girlfriends, as does Kader, who harasses Marie until she eventually responds. The ending is explosive. Though certainly not a big hit, La Vie de J?sus is a quiet masterpiece and even more effective than Dumont's second, more highly celebrated film, L'humanite. ~ Adam Bregman, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Samuel Boidin  Actor 
Sebastien Delbaere  Actor 
Steve Smagghe  Actor 
Sebastian Bailleul  Actor 
Rachid Bouchareb  Producer 
Jean Brehat  Producer 
Richard Cuvillier  Composer (Music Score) 
Bruno Dumont  Director 
Bruno Dumont  Screenwriter 
David Douche  Actor 
Marjorie Cottreel  Actor 
Genevičve Cottreel  Actor 
Kader Chaatouf  Actor 

Country: France