An adaptation of Georges Bernanos' 1926 novel about a Catholic priest's quest for spiritual purity in the modern world. A simple man, troubled by the worldly excesses of the contemporary priesthood, Donissan practices an extreme ascetism, which includes various rituals of... [More]

An adaptation of Georges Bernanos' 1926 novel about a Catholic priest's quest for spiritual purity in the modern world. A simple man, troubled by the worldly excesses of the contemporary priesthood, Donissan practices an extreme ascetism, which includes various rituals of self-mortification. His religious fervor confounds his superior, who is unable to decide if Donissan is a fanatic or a saint. One night, on a lonely country road, Donissan is accosted by a mysterious traveller who may or may not be Satan. Afterwards, the priest discovers in himself miraculous powers: the capacity to see into other people's minds and souls, even an ability to raise the dead. But when his encounter with an amoral teenage girl, pregnant by a lover she has just murdered, ends in tragedy, Donissan senses that his "divine" gift may be a source of terror and death, rather than spiritual salvation. [Less]